Financial tools can help farmers improve farm’s performance and assure profitability. Enterprise budgets, financial statements, and sensitivity analyses are examples of financial tools that assist farmers on their decision-making. Enterprise budgets are a reliable tool that help keep track of revenues and expenditures associated with a specific crop. Farmers using these budgets can estimate the…Read more about Building Enterprise Budgets for Indiana Specialty Crop Growers[Read More]
Ag Economics - General
This publication is the second part of a series of publications that aim to help farmers selling at farmers markets and other local markets. Below we offer information on price determination and pricing strategies for farmers markets. The importance of understanding pricing information Pricing is probably the single most important driver of farm profitability and…Read more about What You Need to Know about Selling in Farmers Markets—Let’s Talk about Prices[Read More]
Farmers markets continue to grow in number and locations. According to the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA-AMS), there are currently 8,702 farmers markets in the United States, an increase of almost 400 percent since 1994 (USDA-AMS, 2017). The USDA-AMS directory of farmers markets reported 191 farmers markets in Indiana by August 2017:…Read more about What You Need to Know about Selling in Farmers Market — Farmers Markets and Its Benefits[Read More]
The latest Census of Agriculture reported that 244,974 U.S. farmers utilized more than 14 million acres to grow specialty crops in 2012. In Indiana 2,935 farmers grew specialty crops on 63,252 acres. Indiana’s specialty crop industry includes operations that grow fruit and vegetable, tree nut, dried fruit, horticulture, floriculture, and nursery crops. Specialty crops include…Read more about Is My Farm Profitable? The Drivers of Farm Profitability[Read More]
Fall is already here and winter is closer than expected. As business starts to slow take the opportunity to reflect on what was great, good, or not-so-good during this growing season. This time of year also brings the opportunity to start planning next year’s strategies. Pricing strategy is one of the key strategies influencing your…Read more about The Top Five Things to Consider Before Pricing Your Products[Read More]
How many times have you had to explain to a customer how to select, prepare or store a product that you have grown and are offering for sale? Did you ever wonder if more shoppers might buy your product if they had a clear understanding of how to prepare it? How many of us would…Read more about FoodLink is NOW READY for Your Use[Read More]
The Indiana State Department of Agriculture’s (ISDA) Indiana Grown Program is an all-inclusive collaborative initiative to promote Indiana produced agricultural products to Indiana residents, restaurants, grocery stores, farmer’s markets, wholesalers, processors and other retail businesses. In addition, through the Indiana Grown program, the ISDA is establishing a marketing strategy to promote Indiana agriculture nationally as well…Read more about Indiana Grown Seeks Producers for PMA Fresh Summit[Read More]
Code Red Webinar. Thursday, August 27, 2015. 12:00 P.M. – 1:00 P.M. EDT. The Code Red tool developed by the Purdue Women in Agriculture Team is a must have for every family, business, and farm operation. The tool includes important information such as passwords, bank account information, rental agreements, insurance papers, power of attorney documents,…Read more about Upcoming Events[Read More]
On August 12, 2015, USDA designated 88 counties in Indiana as natural disaster areas due to heavy rainfall since May. The four counties not designated disaster areas are LaGrange, Perry, Spencer and Steuben. Farm operators in the ‘disaster’ counties are eligible for low interest emergency loans from the Farm Service Agency, provided they meet…Read more about USDA Designates Disaster Areas in Indiana[Read More]
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) at USDA publishes information about prices, supplies, movement, and quality of vegetables every business day. On Thursday, July 16, 2015, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, AMS will offer a webinar about the Fruit & Vegetable Market News, what information on organic crops is available, and how to use the…Read more about USDA Offers Webinar on Organic Market News Reporting[Read More]