We share a calving story and talk about how managing family living expenses has raised the profitability of a farmer's operation. Focus topic for the episode is writing your budget or plan down. We share resources and tools to help with this and hit on the importance of knowing your cost of production.
Planning and budgeting – goal setting (Episode #2)
Calving Story
What’s working for Ag – listener or farmer feedback
Cheap beer (focusing on family living expenses)
costs from outside of farming expenses that still need to be carried by farm profitability
Cutting the cable or using streaming entertainment services.
monthly reoccurring charges for memberships/subscriptions that aren’t used any more
Consulting with service providers for reduced rates, packages, or alternatives. (Energy, insurance, 5% changes) future podcasts
Find us on twitter @Farm4ProfitLLC
Individually on Twitter
@IowaBankerman - Tanner
@IowaLandGuy - David
Send us an email farm4profitllc@gmail.com
Connect through our website www.farm4profit.com
Leave us a voicemail at 515.207.9640
Connect on Facebook @Farm4Profit
Building an Instagram at Farm4Profit
Planning and budgeting – goal setting
Most often this is where it starts, just having a plan is progress even if it’s in your head. In today’s world with competition at its peak you can’t afford to not have a plan.
Better yet, Write it down, type it up, enter it into a program
Services available all over:
https://farmlogs.com/
https://conservis.ag/
https://granular.ag/
https://www.harvestprofit.com/
https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/decisionaids.html
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/online/
https://www.card.iastate.edu/
Share it with others – welcome feedback
Family
Team members (Banker, broker, accountant)
Peers
Example of what sharing with your peers can gain for you. An individual living in a suburb made a resolution to exercise more and chose CrossFit as a form of exercising to do that. The closest gym to him offering this style of workout was a 30 minute commute & in the opposite direction of where he worked. After working out for 3 months he built relationships with other members of the class & shared he may need to discontinue the class because the time commitment was too long. As soon as he shared this he had an option for a route that shaved 12 minutes off the drive time and the knowledge of a new gym closer to his work. Just by sharing his plan he gained from the perspective of others.
Get detailed
Over all is great, but dividing down to a field by field, acre by acre, or animal by animal basis will provide insight more insight
Using unit by unit strategies could result in letting a farm go, searching for my ground or genetics like your highest profit characteristics, or searching for cost reduction strategies with a more focused effort.
Company from prior conference was Ag Solver
https://agsolver.com/
If you can’t do it get help
Or you don’t enjoy it
Pay for help or get it for free (future)
There will be more material in future episodes about how to form an advisory team to help with this.
Also future episodes on how to get more of this service from your bankers, salesmen, and tools for free.
Review it
Periodically
Monthly or after seasonal swings and big market movements (trade deals and crop reports and planting progress)
Huge tool in considering prevented plant or crop choices
Make in season adjustments
Compare at the end of the year/season
Keep your original plan/budget and then compare. Learn from the factors that changed and why.
Summarize
Start with a plan, basic. Work through the details and then share your plan with others. This will help keep you accountable and maybe share insights you were missing. Make adjustments throughout the year and revisit it frequently to make sure you are on track. At the end reflect on how it turned out and what needs to be done differently next time.
Challenge
What does you budget look like now? Not talking if it’s in the green or red, but does one exists. If you do have one are there ways you get add more detail or more accurate information to it? DO you know someone with more skills than you have to add insight? If you don’t have one start now to take the steps to get started on paper. Write it down.
Conference Update
What’s working for Ag section to be featured on 12/6/2019. Sharing the most profitable actions from farmers from all areas.
Submit questions and topic suggestions
Find us on twitter @Farm4ProfitLLC
Individually on Twitter
@IowaBankerman - Tanner
@IowaLandGuy - David
Send us an email farm4profitllc@gmail.com
Connect through our website www.farm4profit.com
Leave us a voicemail at 515.207.9640
Connect on Facebook @Farm4Profit
Building an Instagram at Farm4Profit