Learn about innovative farm management strategies, new technologies for improving efficiency and productivity, ways to ensure a successful transition of farm operations to the next generation. Join us at the 91st annual Purdue Farm Management Tour and reception honoring the 2024 Indiana Master Farmers in Randolph County (Winchester), Indiana on Wednesday, July 17th.
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General Farm Management & Strategy
USDA’s farm income forecasts are downward bias due to high costs of over-prediction.
Read MorePurdue ag economists James Mintert and Michael Langemeier review the results and give some insight into the September 2020 Ag Economy Barometer survey, a nationwide monthly survey of 400 ag producers. U.S. agricultural producers became more optimistic again in September as the Purdue University-CME Group Ag Economy Barometer climbed to 156, the highest reading for…
Read MoreSeveral factors need to be considered when evaluating new ventures and enterprises. In addition to determining how a new venture or enterprise fits into the current operation, it is important to evaluate expected returns and risk, the cost and ease of entry and exit, and managerial requirements and complexity.
Read MoreKeeping the farm business running between generations and management tiers can be difficult, but job descriptions and keeping open communication is key. Purdue agricultural economists Brady Brewer and members of the Purdue Farm Transition team Jenna Nees, Denise Schroeder, and Kyle Weaver discuss the importance of having a strong HR strategy and some common issues that many farms face as they transition management roles.
Read MoreThis article is one of a series of financial management articles that examine financial statements and financial analysis. In this article, repayment capacity measures are illustrated for a case farm and discussed.
Read MoreThis article is one of a series of articles that examine financial statements and financial analysis. In this article, a case farm in west central Indiana is used to illustrate financial performance benchmarks for profitability and financial efficiency ratios.
Read MoreIt takes a lot of family and hired labor to run modern farms. Labor is an important and costly input and farm managers need to ask if they are getting the efficiency and productivity needed from that labor to be competitive. One way to evaluate this question is to use benchmarks created using data from similar farms. Labor benchmarks should include family and operator labor as well as hired labor.
Read MoreThe continued increase in the size of tractors, combines, and other machinery has enabled farms to operate more acres and reduce labor use per acre. However, this increase in machinery size also makes it increasingly important to evaluate the efficient use of machinery. Two commonly used benchmarks to evaluate the efficient use of machinery are machinery investment per acre and machinery cost per acre.
Read MoreFor a farm to grow, it is essential that the replacement margin be large enough to repay term debt, replace assets, and purchase new assets, and that the replacement coverage ratio be greater than one. This article defines and illustrates the use of key repayment capacity measures.
Read MoreThe Du Pont financial analysis model is a useful method of illustrating the relationship between the asset turnover ratio, the operating profit margin ratio, return on assets, and return on equity. In this article, a case farm is used to examine the relationships between profitability and financial efficiency ratios, and to examine the impact of a change in revenue, variable costs, or owning rather than leasing 150 acres on financial performance.
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