Business
Profitable farmers create financial habits that separate them from others. These habits, consistently applied through the years, add up, and the results are evident.
You wear many hats throughout the year. What happens if you or one of the key decision makers is away from the farm for a few weeks or months? Will everyone know exactly what to do when?
Todd and Louise Malecha have one mission: Keep everyone on the same page. For their operation, that “same page” is a 587-page business plan.
Ensure your farm business attracts and retains employees
For a sixth consecutive month, the rural economy has posted signs of weakness. That’s according to the Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) from Creighton University.
“Most farms don’t have the time, capabilities, perspectives, resources or desire to do all the tasks it takes to run an operation,” says Steve Kluemper, AgriStrategies LLC founder. “A lot of growers hire to fill gaps.”
Your goal is to commit yourself to establishing a culture of thanks on your farm. Try out a few of these ideas during this season of Thanksgiving.
In just a few years the farm financial pendulum swung from shaky to stable, according to the 2022 Agricultural Lender Survey report by the American Bankers Association and Farmer Mac.
Managers tend to focus on two groups: the overachievers and the underachievers. As a result, he says, you neglect the employees who could become high performers — aka the B players.
For 2023, make expanding your business edge a priority by joining Top Producer at its annual Top Producer Summit.
You’ve done the hard part. You’ve set up a trust and allocated assets. Now, who will oversee it after you’re gone? Choosing a trustee is a major financial and personal decision.
At Seven Springs Farm in Cadiz, Ky., the calculator drives decisions. With acute focus on ROI, Joe Nichols has expanded and contracted his farm’s size and scope through the years.
In your will or trust documents, you name a power of appointment. This means you grant power to an individual to name recipients of all or a portion of your money and property in the future.
With higher interest rates the new norm, it’s time to assess your debt structure and interest rate risk.
How do you set your farm on a profitable and exciting trajectory? Surround yourself with smart people, and then give and take.
“You can begin at any point in the year, but the power of this is that by improving yourself first, others follow,” says Mark Faust, president of Echelon Management.
Consumer preferences can totter between fads and trends. For farmers to capitalize on consumer demands, they must be able to sort out which market opportunities to pursue, says Rob Dongoski with Ernst & Young.
Farm Journal’s 26th annual Top Producer Summit, agriculture’s premier educational and networking event, is set for Jan. 23-25, 2023, at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville.
The first step to winning the war for workers is to keep your star employees happy. Here’s how three farmers retain and attract employees.
Idaho operation builds niche business to complement core crops.
How do you approach transition planning when two of your children are on the farm and one is not? You must be intentional and communicate.
If you weren’t able to attend Top Producer Summit in Nashville, you can still watch the awards banquet.
Instead of writing down these big audacious goals, Jon Acuff, an entrepreneur, speaker and best-selling author, has better advice: Set micro goals.
During the Top Producer Summit, which was held Jan. 23-25 in Nashville, Top Producer honored five farm operations.
From 2020 to 2021, Susan Weaver Ford gained 8,900 neighbors, as the population of her county jumped 4%. “I used to farm fields that now have 40 houses,” she says. “The city is meeting us pretty quick.”
Since their inception in 2014, you’ve been choosing between Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC). You have until March 15 to make your choice this year.
The rural economy seems to be set on cruise in neutral gear. That’s according to the Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) from Creighton University.
The sources of stress and uncertainty for the season ahead are plentiful. When uncertainty is plentiful, so is decision paralysis. To play offense and face the biggest risks to your farm, use this decision framework.
In 2022, the average interest rates on farm loans skyrocketed from record lows to decade highs. While that jump is remarkable and expected to continue, a little perspective is needed.
“Our CEO will always be the Chief Risk Officer – a task it is irresponsible to delegate,” says American investor Warren Buffett.