Guide To Farm Business Planning Finger Lakes

By Ines Flores


Planning is critical for success of both new and established farming businesses. The plan should not only exist in your mind, but also need time to formulate thoughts, evaluate the progress and strategies for problem solving. Your plan should be realistic, simple, specific and complete. Thus, the guidelines below on farm business planning Finger Lakes are essential to prospective farmers.

Drawing a good plan has an advantage when you want to get credit from financial institutions. A good business plan goals should be specific, measurable, time bound, achievable and realistic. A good budget will help secure a loan from a financial institution. There are short-term goals, which are meant to be accomplished within one year and long-term goals, which are expected, go for two years and above.

Make a plan that is easy to read and understand. This will enable easy implementation of your plan. Remember any plan no matter how good it appears, must be revised from time to time. This will help suit the situation at hand. Apart for goals, ensure the objectives and dates are in relation to the operation of farm enterprises.

Create a mission statement for the farm to reflect the objectives to the public, employees, customers, lenders and owners. It should focus on the reason why the business exists, the purpose the business is going to serve and the direction the business is headed. In your plan, formulate the goals of the farm like production, marketing personnel and finance. In production your plan, should include everything from planting to harvesting.

You need to prepare financial statements at the end of the fiscal year. The balance sheet will list and detail assets and liabilities. It gives the net worth of a farm with a record for future reference. It is important to remember to use current market rates when evaluating land, equipment, buildings, machinery crop and livestock. In addition, you need to factor in interest on loans and any payment on arrears.

The profit and loss account document will show whether the farm is making a profit or a loss. It lists the income, expenses and profit in a fiscal year. Most farmers use the profit and loss statement to calculate income for tax purposes. You may use the cash or the accrual method to prepare the income statement.

Include in your plan implementation strategy. Doing research to gather all relevant information is of no use if the plan is not implemented. It is considered as doing things in the right way. You will realize some of the issues for implementation are not possible. Going through the plan therefore will help identify such hindrances and look for solutions.

There are many risks and uncertainties in farming. Some are natural like diseases and pests, adverse weather conditions among others. It is, therefore, important to formulate an exit plan in your plan. Quitting may be unpopular for you however; it may turn out to be the best decision for your land and family because of illness, death of a close partner, old age, lack of finances among other factors.




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