California farm managers and rural appraisers were surveyed in Fall 2009 to rank the importance of several skills pertaining to their profession. Additional questions included age, income, years of experience, professional designations and affiliations, and whether the Valuation Code of Conduct...

Commercial whitetail deer farming is a growing industry in the U.S. The size of operations ranges from a few head to hundreds. Management ranges from small, part-time farmers to professionally-managed operations. There is, however, a lack of published information documenting investment costs,...

Diesel fuel is a major expense for most farmers. Diesel fuel prices do exhibit some seasonality so farmers can try to lower their fuel expenses by buying their fuel in months when prices are lower. However, purchasing fuel before it is needed results in a carrying charge to the farmer. This...

Factors and characteristics associated with farm profitability are of considerable interest to farm operators, farm managers, and researchers. This paper uses farm financial records from the Illinois Farm Business Management Association from 1995 to 2011 to classify grain farms into performance...

With the growing advancements in technology increasingly available to farmers, there is a need to recognize this influence when making farm management decisions. This study investigated the influence of auto-steer navigation on machinery selection and land investment decisions by developing a...

The true value of the water in agricultural production is determined by its perceived contribution to productive capacity. This analysis is concerned with determining an estimation of the value, or “worth,†of the water from the 2010 Nebraska Farm Real Estate Survey. This survey allows...

Surveys were conducted with participants in the 2008 and 2009 Top Farmer Crop Workshops at Purdue University. These large-scale commercial farmers were asked about changes in the availability of forward pricing contracts and its impact on their marketing program. These producers were also asked...

The 2008 Farm Bill provided an option for receiving commodity program payments through existing programs or a new revenue-based alternative – the Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) program. ACRE is a state-level revenue program which, if elected, replaces the price-based countercyclical...

Many farmland owners opt to work directly with farmer-tenants while others choose to hire a professional farm manager to assist in the management of their land. As absentee landownership increases and more landowners become less associated with farming, professional farm managers have increased...