Farm Income - new to the land

3 posts

Member for

5 years 11 months
Last seen: 04/04/2018 - 00:38
Joined: 03/30/2018 - 19:14

Farm Income - new to the land

We have established two farming ventures over the past 20 years - one in animal husbandry and one in horticulture. We are currently diversifying with very little capital. Can I advise anyone new to the land and wanting to live on the income their property provides to first set up a very clear economic plan that includes business and personal savings. What ever your enterprise, it is going to swallow as much time and money as you give it. Setting clear and realistic boundaries to both time and money right at the beginning will yield solid returns from day one. The very act of setting these boundaries helps to clarify your enterprise and your capacity to develop it. There are a variety of software applications to help organise different primary production concerns. I wonder if anyone is using a simple program for tracking horticulture that does not expect a dedicated staff member to enter data for hours a day! Cheers.
Last seen: 06/13/2019 - 10:17
Joined: 09/09/2011 - 11:03
Hi laker, The first step I would take would be to approach a local adviser to help you produce a simple gross margin for each of you enterprises. If you are experienced in that enterprise enough you would be able to do one yourself. I do them often for farmers on a simple excel platform. With a little general knowledge on spreadsheets it can come together quite quickly. And can give you a real insight into actual costs involved with your enterprises. The main thing I would highly stress is to be as accurate and objective with your data entry as possible. As with any data reference it is only as good as the data put into it. I hope this helps. Rolly
Last seen: 04/04/2018 - 00:38
Joined: 03/30/2018 - 19:14
Thank you for your prompt response - much appreciated. However. We don't need help with figuring gross, or net, margins - we have lived off the land for 20 years and run tight budgets, projections, land management records now for our current two enterprises. What I'd like to access is a simple application that cross references data input in a simple intuitive format. The applications I have trialed over the years are either too crop/species specific or require data to be entered into too many categories and it simply takes too much time. 'Vegtool' is the closest I can find at the moment but I'd love to find something more powerful and quicker.

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