Content
Farm Financial Skills for Kansas Women in Agriculture
Project Director: Robin Reid Project
Co-Director: LaVell Winsor Kansas State University
About ExtensionRME
Success in Every State
Women in agriculture checking out their bean field.
“I finally know what this Balance Sheet is telling me!! It is not just a report with numbers. Understanding what it is telling me about our enterprise and how it can help us make decisions has me excited!” – Kansas Producer
More than 25,000 women producers in Kansas farm over 14 million acres. K-State Research and Extension recognized the importance of this demographic to the vitality of agriculture and rural communities across their state when structuring this four-part program. The downturn in the farm economy in recent years highlighted a need for more education in farm financial management, specifically focusing on debt/asset relationships, cash flow management, financial analysis and benchmarking.
Situation: One of the participants that attended the training farms 80 acres along with backgrounding some of their own cattle and dairy replacement heifers and feeder calves for a neighboring farm. They also have an agricultural tiling business that she does the books for in addition to the farm. She was already using QuickBooks and did a good job of recordkeeping but didn't know what to do with those records to make them useful for the management of the farm.
A Nebraska rancher previously worked as a banker and was familiar with available insurance opportunities for ranchers to protect their operation. The individual transitioned to a full time ranching operation with a business partner. As part of this transition, he was curious about various risk management tools available to his operation. Through a monthly newsletter, this individual identified the University of Nebraska Extension Office as one of the best tools available in the state to develop knowledge in risk management strategies. He decided to attend an in-person meeting where Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) insurance was featured and appreciated the expert and non-biased opinion taught by experts in the field.
Outcomes: The biggest take away for this producer was how to make and analyze financial statements based on her recordkeeping. The workshops helped her, and other participants understand financial records and how financial statements could assist in management decision making as well as operations.
Impacts: This participant stated that she is currently producing cash flows and has used them with her annual meeting with their lender. She is also tracking and managing family living expenses more. This project taught core principles of farm financial management in a way for producers to directly apply them to their own operations, therefore reducing financial risk in a time of unprecedented uncertainty in agriculture. Project feedback received indicated these participants will be more proactive in developing financial statements and analyzing them to make informed management decisions, which will lead to more financially sustainable and resilient farms.