Having a successful farming operation all starts with having a plan.  And there's a little more to devising that plan than you might think.  Dean Heffta talks with KRVN's Ken Rahjes about the strategery.....um......strategy behind a strategic plan.  Listen in.  March 1 2010 Strategic Planning for Your Farm - Heffta.mp3 (3.23 mb)

Here's a tool to help you start your strategic plan: Strategic Plan.pdf

If you're coming to the Commodity Classic, you'll want to make sure to mark this session on your program.  At 1:30 on Saturday, March 6th, there's a panel discussion titled Controlling What You Can Control.  Arlan Suderman from Farm Futures Magazine told me that farmers come out in droves to attend an outlook seminar.  And he knows, because he gives them.  It's fun to talk about the factors impacting the markets.  But after a while it gets frustrating, because what can you really do about those factors?  Nothing.  During this session the focus will be on things where you can impact your profitability, simply by learning and tracking and knowing what numbers to watch and what to do with them once you've found them. 

       Max Armstrong                 Arlan Suderman                 Mike Jacobson                Tim Copeland                       Darren Frye

Max Armstrong (you've heard of him, right?) is hosting the session.  Our experts include:  Arlan Suderman, Market Analyst for Farm Futures Magazine; Mike Jacobson, Chairman, President and CEO of NebraskaLand National Bank; Tim Copeland, VP of Marketing at Great American Insurance and Darren Frye, CEO of Water Street Solutions. 

I'm sure you'll go home from this session energized about what you've learned and how it can help you take the financial reins of your operation.  If you can't be there with us, you'll be able to find information from the session on this web site.

It's not too late to enroll in the 2010 ACRE program, and Steve Johnson, Farm Management Specialist with Iowa State University says his strategy for the ACRE program would be to focus on farms where you want to plant soybeans.

To hear Steve Johnson comments, click here

Again, the enrollment deadline for the 2010 ACRE program is June 1st.  The grower's signature is required, along with the landowner's signature.  Johnson stresses that the ACRE program replaces the counter-cyclical government program, it does not replace crop insurance.  He says it's very complementary with crop insurance.  Johnson suggests that if we hadn't had a counter-seasonal rally in corn in October, November and December of 2009, there would have been Illinois, Iowa and Missouri farms generating $20 to $40 an acre in ACRE payments.

It's important to financially manage your farm using an accrual method of accounting.  It helps you get a better vision for your financial success or failure out of a cropping season.  That's different than the way you manage financially on a calendar year for tax reporting purposes.  Chip Nellinger finishes his conversation with KRVN's Ken Rahjes about the key parts of a financial analysis.

Jan 25 2010 More About Financial Analysis - Nellinger.mp3 (3.37 mb)

Making your way through agriculture these days is a little like navigating through some town you've never been to before.  If you were suddenly plopped down in the middle of a foreign city, it would be nice to have a good map, or maybe a GPS device that spoke English.  Now that you've found yourself plopped down in the middle of farming, 2010 style, a really good "map" is a financial analysis.  It can help you understand where you are, where you'd like to go, how long that might take, and the best ways of getting there.  Since we're on a travel theme here, I'll let Chip Nellinger and KRVN's Ken Rahjes be your guides for the rest of this discussion.  Click on the link to hear their discussion about the workings of a financial analysis.

Jan 18 2010 Why Do a Financial Analysis - Nellinger.mp3 (1.93 mb)

You've set goals for your business in the past, but maybe that didn't seem to get you where you wanted to go.  Were your goals SMART?  Did you have a BHAG?  There are some pointers to make goal setting work for you, including the incorporation of those two acronyms.  Dean Heffta shares these with KRVN's Ken Rahjes.

Jan 11 2010 Goal Setting Continued - Heffta.mp3 (1.93 mb)

The latest crop insurance newsletter is on its way out to you.  If you'd like a sneak peek, take a look at it here. 

Crop Ins Newsletter January 2010.pdf (1.63 mb)

If you're not currently on our mailing list, and you'd like to receive this publication, click here and send us a note to put your name on the list.  Be sure to include your mailing address.

Have you thought about what to resolve for 2010?  How about making your resolutions something that can improve your farming business?  This week Dean Heffta talks with KRVN's Ken Rahjes about a couple of resolutions that might work well for you.  1)  Controlling What You Can Control  2)  Starting with Succession Planning. 

Dec 28 2009 New Years Resolutions - Heffta.mp3 (1.15 mb)

You may not think about business books helping you to build your farming operation, but there's really no reason that the same principles wouldn't apply.  This week Jason Ladman talks with KRVN's Ken Rahjes about a business book that he's recently finished, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John C. Maxwell.  Many of the lessons can make you think about how you're going about your business, and some things you might change about your day to day activities. 

Dec 21 2009 Laws of Leadership on the Farm - Ladman.mp3 (1.39 mb)

As we tie up the loose ends on 2009, it's a good time to evaluate the year and appreciate the lessons we've learned and also find where we can do better next year.  From a farm profit standpoint, there are four common places where farmers are leaving money on the table...four areas where we could be finding more profit.  These include production, crop insurance, marketing and expenses.  Three of the four of these fall right into the core of our business.  Chip Nellinger talks with KRVN's Ken Rahjes about how to get more money out of your operation by looking at these four areas.

Dec 14 2009 More Room for Profitability - Nellinger.mp3 (2.55 mb)