Dl4-Lancaster Farming Saturday, December 20,1906 (Parti) BY ROLAND P. FREUND Area Farm Management Agent A recent national survey by a prominent business magazine found that most people think a lot about money. It was not stated how many of the respondents were farmers, but we can probably assume that most fanners spend a lot of time thinking about money. The problem is that just thinking about such things does not make them happen. In farming today it requires the application of many skills to convert desires and even work effort into a financial profit for the operator. Management, one of the least practiced skills, is the process through which we convert thoughts and dreams about money into a working plan to get some of it into our pockets. Twenty years ago it did not matter a great deal how you went about planning chances were good that out of each dollar taken in you would get to keep 40 cents. Today it takes very careful control to keep even 20 cents, and the situation is going to be much more difficult in the future. Unless you are really prepared to manage your farm today, you may find that in a few years time you won’t be able to manage to farm. Management is now a farm activity which is just as important as milking the cows, and time needs to be set aside for it. To be effective and productive we need to organize a management program for the farm just like we have a cropping program or a feeding program (which, in- op Agway of Leesport Angstadt Trucking Bank of Pennsylvania Berks-Lehigh Valley Farm Credit Bernville Bank Bernville Quality Fuels Boscov’s Rich Brandt Farm Real Estate F.M. Brown’s Sons, Inc. Columbia Cutlery Pete D'Angeli Diesel Service, Inc. DeSantis T ransportation Farm Bureau Fies Catering Ist Federal Savings & Loan Assoc, of Pottstown Six Steps To Establish Control Of Farm Business The Basics Of Management cidentally, are parts of the management process). Management must be con tinuous, and like the seasons, it goes in cycles. In this series we’ll not get into much of the detail about specific procedures, but let’s take a cycle step by step and consider: 1. Analysing the farm situation 2. Setting Goals 3. Examining alternatives in a farm plan 4. Putting the farm plan into action, and the back-up plan 5. Keeping track of performance 6. Analyzing results and setting new goals Every farmer has some form of management program in place, even if it’s all carried around in his or her head. Hopefully this series of discussions will help you to examine your system, brush the cobwebs off, beef it up, and oil it, so that it can be the smooth-running control unit for a more profitable farm business. You never can tell if you get it operating more profitably you might even have time to think about other things besides money!! Step 1. Where are you now? or Analysing your farm situation. Before we can improve, we must know our present situation, and take stock of all the resources that are available to us. We should know our strengths and weaknesses, and keep a record of these things so that in the future we can use this resource list as a baseline against which to measure progress through time. Under resources we should list; Family not just as potential laborers, but the abilities and management savy of each member Land by productivity class, owned as well as rented Buildings and Structures condition, capacities etc. Equipment and machines Livestock by groups and production levels Crops with yield potential and quality Inventories of feed, fertilizers, and supplies, workshop tools etc. Cash, bank deposits, shares etc., plus cash value of life insurance. If we place a dollar value on each of these physical assets, we have most of our net-worth statement work done. With or without valuation, such a listing is im portant in the planning process, for these resources will largely determine what enterprises we can, or should not consider. Unless we are very fortunate, we will also have liabilities such as: mortgage, loans and notes with the bank, family loans, dealer debt, charge accounts, and unpaid ac counts, also other obligations like lease payments. These all need to be listed, with current balance and monthly and annual payments. For detailed steps in preparing a net-worth statement, contact your extension office of Penn State’s Cooperative Extension Service, and ask for Financial Management for the family farm Volume 85, (Home study) No 6 - THE BALANCE SHEET... A suitable time to do this stock take is at the end of each ac counting year, so that the balance sheet can be viewed along with the Thank You! And Happy Holidays To Those Who Supported Our 1986 Livestock Sales From The Berks County 4-H Beef, 4-H Sheep and Lamb, And 4-H Swine Clubs. Marvin Frantz Gehman Feed Mill Harvey George George’s Foodliner Hamilton Bank of Lancaster Ruth Hartman Hatfield Packing Co. Dr. W. Thomas Jay Dave & Constance Kantner Keller's Crop Service Kings IGA Kissler’s Trucking Kutztown Grange Kuzan’s Hardware Lebanon Valley National Bank Leesport Farmers Market Manor Equipment farm profit and loss statement. These together give a view of where we are, and will also provide a good indication of the condition of our business at the particular time. A good manager will not view the careful preparation of these documents as “boring tasks to satisfy bank loan officers.” From the results of your ob servations you should ask yourself, “Can I go on like this for the rest of my life?” If vour answer is “no”, Update: Nearly 18,000 Acres Signed To Conservation Reserve UNIVERSITY PARK - Penn sylvania farmers put 17,885 acres of the state’s highly erodible cropland into the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program in 1986. USDA had hoped to enroll 82,000 Penn sylvania acres in the CRP in 1986. Nationally, USDA has accepted almost 9 million acres. The goal was to sign up 5 million in 1986, and 10 million additional acres in 1987. Acres Acres bid accepted First signup (March 1986) 13,663 2,463 Second signup (May 1986) 13,447 8,285 Third signup (August 1986) 8,840 7,137 NATIONAL bid accepted First signup (March 1986) 4,818,561 838,356 Second signup (May 1986) 4,646,524 3,000,681 Third signup (August 1986) 6,420 964 5,091,618 Mast Mower & Service Meridian Bank National Bank of Boyertown On-Line Computer Peters Bro's Meats Reading Bone Fertilizer Co. John Shaeffer Shillington IGA Shirley’s Lunch Counter Stagecoach Stop Restaurant Paul Stoudt Truckco, Inc. Dennis Wagner Walter Dunlap, Inc. Yellow House Hotel Ralph Zettiemoyer you need to look for other ways of making a living for yourself and your family. If the answer is “yes’*, proceed with the other management steps. Goal setting, the second step in the management cycle, will be the topic of our next installment in this series. In the meantime, may you enjoy many good thoughts about your future management of the farm business. (Continued Next Week) The following chart outlines state and national participation in the program for the three signup periods held in 1986, the first year for program signup. The first two signups were for 1986 crops, while the third accepted cropland for the 1987 year. The bid amounts accepted for Pennsylvania were $65 for pool 1 (southeastern Pennsylvania) and $6O for pool 2. PENNSYLVANIA Acres Acres Thanks Number farms accepted 93 255 202 Number (arms accepted 10,307 22,863 35,965
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers