Food Is Medicine: What 25 Years as a Nurse Taught Me About Farming

Immanuel Jarvis, co-founder of Jireh Family Farm in Durham, NC, previously presented "Effective Strategies for Farm Diversity" at the Virginia Biological Farming Conference, covering agritourism, added-value products, subject-matter expertise, and the hobby-vs-business mindset shift. This proposed follow-up session, "The Hidden Balance Sheet — Finding Diversification Assets You Already Own," addresses the gap his prior talk left open: what struggling farmers can do when they feel they lack capital or resources to diversify at all.

Rather than teaching farmers what to add, this session teaches them to inventory what they already have — idle time, pre-farming career skills, existing relationships (church, farm-school alumni, neighboring farms), and byproducts currently treated as waste. A live worksheet activity walks attendees through a four-category asset inventory, so they leave with a concrete plan rather than just inspiration.

The core message: moving from hobby to business doesn't require new capital — it requires an honest audit of assets already on hand.