NEWARK, De.—While a farm
inventory is not required for
income tax purposes for farmers
who operate on a cash basis, it is an
essential part of any year-end
balance sheet. The inventory is
necessary to show how well your
farm business is doing from year to
year. And banks today are very
interested in having an accurate
200-Year Century Farm
Owners To Be Recognized
HARRISBURG Noting that
democracy took root in a nation of
farmers, the U.S. Department Of
Agriculture is recognizing family
farms which have been held in the
same family since the ratification
of the U.S. Constitution.
Pennsylvania Secretary of Agri
culture Boyd E. Wolff, reports that
Become A
WEST CHESTER—The Ches
ter County 4-H Program invites
you to become a 4-H volunteer
leader! If you enjoy working with
youth, enjoy learning new skills
and meeting new people, then
think seriously about joining the
Chester County 4-H Family.
4-H is a youth education prog
ram of the Chester County
Cooperative Extension Service, an
extension of Penn State Universi
ty. The 4-H program involves the
whole family in a “learning by
doing” method of leadership deve
lopment 4-H adult volunteers
teach and 4-H members leant the
“why” and “how” of over 125 4-H
projects which include dog care,
foods, gardening, clothing and tex
tiles, dairy, livestock, horse, public
speaking and more.
There are 83 4-H clubs, and
1100 4-H members currently
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Farm Inventory Record A Valuable Tool
picture of the financial well-being
of any business they lend money
to.
You may operate one of the
many farms for which a complete
inventory has never been com
piled. Or you may have taken
inventories in the past, but no lon
ger bother to do so. In either case,
without one you’re operating
At Farm Show
90 farms in this state have not
changed family ownership for
more than 200 years.
Secretary Wolff added that this
surprising number of farms speaks
for the strength of Pennsylvania
family farms.
A Bicentennial Farms Awards
ceremony will be part of the Sec-
4-H Leader
enrolled in the program. In a 4-H
community club, 4-H leaders work
with parents and youth in a neigh
borhood setting, to develop a club
program, and identify 4-H pro
jects. In addition, to working on
projects, 4-H may choose to parti
cipate in community service;
county and regional, state, national
and international program
opportunities.
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DEALER INQUIRIES INVITED
under a major handicap. Accord
ing to Extension farm management
specialist Dr. Don Tilmon, an
annual inventory is one of the
prime information sources needed
for careful farm financial
management.
Farm inventory records identify
the nature, condition and value of
your capital assets plus assets held
retary’s Night program at the 1988
Pennsylvania Farm Show. The
awards will be presented in the
large arena on Monday evening,
January 11,1988. Making the pre
sentations will be U.S.D.A. Depu
ty Secretary of Agriculture Peter
C. Myers.
Two Pennsylvania farms tied
for the farm in the same family for
the longest lime. Started in 1717,
the farms of John and Ruth Miller,
Farmingdale Road, Lancaster, and
Harry and Elizabeth Zimmerman,
RD #l, East Earl, have been oper
ated by the same family for 270
years.
The ‘Bicentennial Farm
Awards’ program is jointly spon
sored in this state by the Pennsyl
vania Department of Agriculture
and the USDA Food and Agricul
ture Council, James H. Olson,
Chairman.
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for sale, resale or future use as
inputs.
Tilmon, a member of the Exten
sion Farm Financial Management
Center team at the University of
Delaware, advises taking an inven
tory regularly at least once a
year and preferably on the date for
which an annual or ending finan
cial statement (balance sheet) is
prepared. This will usually be the
last day of the calendar year, or the
last day of your fiscal year, if that’s
not the same as the calendar year.
A year-end inventory provides
the list of assets needed to compile
an accurate ending balance sheet
A series of such inventories will
provide financial management
information you can’tgetfrom any
other source.
Inventoiy categories can be set
up in almost any manner that you
find useful and that can be directly
linked to other parts of your farm
record system. One of the easiest
approaches, says Tilmon, is to
make major inventory categories
(row headings) the same as those
used in your balance sheet. Sub
headings can be a reasonably
detailed listing of items in the
major categories.
For example, if your raise lives
tock, it’s likely that your balance
sheet has a category, “Breeding
Livestock.” When using this as a
major category, you would have a
subheading under it for each type
of breeding animal on your farm.
Inventory listings would then be
the actual count of animals in each
category on the date of the
inventory.
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JOHN DEERE DAY
THAN JUST JOHN DEERE
JOIN YOUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS FOR OUR CELEBRATION
MONDAY.
10:30 AM and 7:00 PM
* Refreshments And Door Prizes!
* Lunch Served At Noon!
10% CASH DISCOUNT ON
STOCK PARTS
Jan. 18 Through Jan. 30
ADAMSTOWN EQUIP., INC.
Box 456 Adamstown, Pa. 19501
Phone:2ls-484-4391
Use a similar approach with
grain, machinery and equipment,
and other categories of assets listed
on your balance sheet.
Record both the amount of items
on hand and their value, Tilmon
says. Assign values in the same
way you did on your balance sheet.
Under present economic condi
tions, it’s advisable that inventory
records show the original cost,
book value and market value of all
capital assets. Current assets usu
ally are entered in both the inven
tory and the balance sheet at mark
et value for the inventory date.
Many office supply and station
ery stores sell inventory record
forms. If you can’t find what you
want, almost any multi-column
sheets will do. With a columnar
pad, for example, just write in the
appropriate column and row head
ings on each sheet of paper and
you’re ready to record inventory
data. Multi-column forms that
allow you to make side-by-side
entries for periods of several years
are a real advantage, the farm man
agement specialists says. This will
reduce preparation time and make
it easy to compare totals and values
to chart the economic state of jour
farm business from year to year.
Regardless of the form you use,
make sure it’s one you like and are
willing to use at the end of every
calendar or fiscal year. Most peo
ple find they can complete a rea
sonably accurate inventory in a
half-day or less, Tilmon says.
That’s not much effort, and it will
improve your basis for financial
management in 1988.
JANUARY 18.
1988