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Founding a Farmers Market: Form a Planning Team
The first step to forming a new farmers market is to form a planning team. Keep the team small enough so that it is simple, small and manageable.
Financial Record Keeping Software: A comparison of Quicken and QuickBooks
As fall nears many producers are beginning to gather their records to prepare for taxes. From these records many important operating decisions are made. Agriculture producers often use computer software to keep financial records. While there are software packages tailored for farm and ranch businesses, many producers successfully use general commercial software such as Quicken® or QuickBooks®. Both products can be useful for an agricultural producer’s record keeping. The question which often arises from producers is, “which one do I need”?
Soybean Production: Cost-effective pest management practices
Chemicals were one of the most expensive individual costs in soybean production, behind only to seed in the non-land cost category. The average cash-rent soybean production farms incurred a crop chemical cost of $39/ac in 2015, an 88% increase from 2010.
Farmers Market Food Safety: Health & Hygiene
Health, hygiene and hand washing apply to all stages of production, processing and marketing. Ill food handlers can easily contaminate fresh produce with disease-causing microorganisms. Many of these organisms have the capability to survive on fresh fruits and vegetables for an extended time, from several days to weeks. Once the organism is established on fresh produce, it is very hard to remove.
Let’s Talk BQA Assessments
Simply put, BQA assessments are a review of a farm or ranch by an assessor that helps managers benchmark their current level of cattle care and discover areas they may be able to improve.
Silage: Minimizing Losses and Maximizing Value
Optimizing silage value starts by harvesting at the right moisture content.
Making Use of “Ugly” Feeds
Feed does not have to be perfect to be useful. The key to making smart feeding decisions is knowing what the imperfections are and adjusting accordingly.
Liver Abscesses: The Unseen Profit Thief
Liver abscesses are a great example of an important value robber in feedlot cattle that’s not immediately apparent.
Herd Management: Keep or Cull During a Drought?
Drought forces unexpected changes so it’s critical to have a strategy to keep only the “right” females that will benefit the operation.
Community Gardens: Budget & Fees
In order to have a sustainable project, it is very important to identify all of the expenses that are involved in the operation of your community garden. Are there costs associated with utilizing the site, site preparation (tilling, plowing, soil testing, or soil amendments), on-site resources (hose, fencing, or shared tools), marketing the garden, water usage, or insurance?