Farm financial performance measures are evaluated for producers across five age groups. The debt-to-asset ratio is highest for farmers in the lessthan- 30 age group, 45.5 percent, and decreases across age groups. Repayment capacity is strongest for farmers in the less-than-30 age group, 2.1:1,...

Succession planning is a component of a household’s risk management strategy for its farm business in as much as it is aimed at continuity of the business' management team. The family farm sector relies heavily on intergenerational succession. Succession and retirement are inter-linked...

Considerable public attention has recently focused on agrosecurity, especially from the perspective of national security and aggregate production. This article reviews a series of biosecurity breaches stemming from criminal activity affecting a Minnesota dairy. Present and future economic losses...

This paper discusses a farm financial analysis program, along with four features of the program that have facilitated its use by farm managers. The four features that appear to increase farm manager interest in the program are Performancebased, Accrual-adjusted income statement, System of...

Identifying the least-cost strategy of obtaining a technology is important. This study determined the break-even cropped area necessary to economically justify the purchase of Precision Agriculture (PA) equipment versus the custom hiring of the PA services. The results suggest that a commercial...

This paper examined sustained competitive advantage for a sample of 377 Kansas Farm Management Association farms with continuous data from 1988-2007. Technical, allocative, scale and overall efficiency indices were calculated for each farm and year. Approximately 30 percent of the farms...

A case study is presented about the financing arrangements, contract terms, and business relationships of a set of contract hog producers whose loans from community banks have been guaranteed by the Illinois Farm Development Authority. The results reflect the maturity and stability of contract...

Anecdotal evidence suggests that agricultural land values are influenced by recreational demands, in particular hunting. This study estimated that the impact that hunting pressure, beef prices, and lagged land values had on county-level pasture values in North Dakota. Using panel data from...

With farm income at record, or near record levels, the overall agricultural production sector has fared well. However, in the current economic climate, instability and volatility in certain agricultural input markets caused by the U.S. macro-economy has put increased pressure on some sub-sectors...

This article reports the responses from a survey of 45 independent rural appraisers in 18 states and 1 Canadian province who have started their own independent business. All were members of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers in 2006 and held the ARA designation. When they...