Purdue ag economists Nathan Delay, Nathanael Thompson and James Mintert examine trends in digital ag technology usage by U.S. corn and soybean farms and identify technology usage patterns that have an impact on productivity and efficiency.

A series of financial management articles that examine financial statements and financial analysis. Articles in this series discuss the balance sheet, the income statement, the sources and uses of fund statements, a statement of owner’s equity, and benchmarking. A case farm in west central Indiana is used to illustrate and describe these financial management statements and analysis.

A farm’s ability to operate on the production frontier depends on its ability to produce crop and livestock enterprises efficiently, while a farm’s ability to produce on the cost frontier pertains to its ability to produce on the production frontier, manage costs, and market crop and livestock commodities. The asset turnover ratio, on the other hand, measures how efficiently farm assets are being used to generate value of farm production (a gross income measure).

The rates of return on assets and equity are extremely useful when comparing farm investments with other investments. However, these two measures are sensitive to how farm assets are valued on the balance sheet. For this reason, the operating profit margin is more conducive for benchmarking profitability among farms.

It is widely accepted that accrual accounting provides a more accurate estimate of annual farm profitability than cash accounting or Schedule F net farm profit. This article compares cash and accrual net farm income for a case farm in west central Indiana given alternative scenarios pertaining to prepaid expenses and crop inventories.

Recorded September 11, 2020 | Purdue agricultural economists Michael Langemeier and James Mintert discussed USDA's September Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports.

There are numerous factors impacting a farm’s debt holding capacity. It is important to remember that financial leverage or debt directly impacts a farm’s growth rate through its effect on expected returns and risk.

Maintain your working capital! This phrase is commonly heard in discussions with lenders, advisors, and management specialists in today’s environment of relatively low crop net returns or margins.

Since its peak in 2013 at $123.7 billion, average U.S. net farm income has averaged $82.7 billion or approximately 33% less than the peak value. This article discusses changes in the U.S. farm sector balance sheet as well as liquidity and solvency ratios.

This article uses FINBIN data from 2015 to 2019, to compare crop yields, gross revenue, total expense, and net returns for conventional and organic alfalfa, corn, oats, soybeans, and winter wheat.

Income tax liabilities arise from differences between balance sheet values of certain assets and liabilities, and the tax basis of those same assets and liabilities. Deferred taxes reconcile the tax basis of balance sheet assets and liabilities with the basis currently being used to value assets and liabilities on a balance sheet, which is usually market value.

Purdue ag economists James Mintert and Michael Langemeier review the results from the August 2020 Ag Economy Barometer survey, a nationwide monthly survey of 400 ag producers. The barometer and its two sub-indices all posted their most positive readings since February 2020 when record highs were established and before the pandemic began.