I. General Information
1. Course Title:
Foundations for Farm Business Management
2. Course Prefix & Number:
FBMT 1112
3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:
Credits: 4
4. Course Description:
This course is an overview of the Farm Business Management Program. The student will be introduced to goal setting, business assessment, personal assessment, record keeping, and business projections to provide the foundation for personal and business management progress. Current issues affecting business management are an integral part of the course.
5. Placement Tests Required:
Accuplacer (specify test): |
No placement tests required |
Score: |
|
6. Prerequisite Courses:
FBMT 1112 - Foundations for Farm Business Management
There are no prerequisites for this course.
9. Co-requisite Courses:
FBMT 1112 - Foundations for Farm Business Management
There are no corequisites for this course.
II. Transfer and Articulation
III. Course Purpose
1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):
Essentials of Farm Business Management Certificate
IV. Learning Outcomes
1. College-Wide Outcomes
College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies |
Students will be able to: |
Analyze and follow a sequence of operations |
Identify problem areas in selected enterprise budget |
Utilize appropriate technology |
Update computerized records to develop a business analysis. |
Work as a team member to achieve shared goals |
Student will be able to identify and discuss business goals |
Discuss/compare characteristics of diverse cultures and environments |
Prepare/update and/or discuss items needed in an employee handbook |
2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of
the course:
- Identify your current level of business exposrue risk;
- Identify steps in the decision-making process;
- Determine the annual labor needs for your farm business;
- Identify the capital needs of the business; (i.e. buildings, land, and equipment)
- Identify balance sheet ratios;
- Determine the farm credit needs of your operation;
- Construct the cash flow plan;
- Demonstrate preparation for conducting a year-end closeout and analysis;
- Apply enterprise budgeting concepts;
- Identify current issues related to the farm business;
- Assemble business, family, and personal goals; and
- Explain Financial Plans with Stakeholders.
V. Topical Outline
Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.
1. Lecture Sessions
1. Identify current level of business exposure risk
- Students will demonstrate competence by doing the following:
- Evaluate personal risk assessment
- Students will show understanding through the following:
- Risk evaluation indicates level of environmental risk
- Risk evaluation indicates level of biological risk
- Risk evaluation indicates level of production risk
- Risk evaluation indicates level of social/labor/human resource risk
- Risk evaluation indicates level of financial risk
- Risk evaluation indicates level of marketing risk
2. Identify steps in the decision-making process
- Students will demonstrate competence by doing the following:
- Use the decision-making process to make decisions
- Students will show understanding through the following:
- Obtain relevant data
- Generate alternatives
- Evaluate alternatives
- Choose a decision
- Implement the decision
- Evaluate the decision
3. Determine the annual labor needs for your farm business
- Students will demonstrate competence by doing the following:
- Record the unpaid and paid labor needs for the farm business
- Students will show understanding through the following:
- Conduct a family labor inventory
- Conduct a hired labor inventory
- Conduct a labor audit for crop enterprises
- Conduct a labor audit for livestock enterprises
- Conduct labor audit for general farm labor
- Align labor needs with available labor
4. Identify the capital needs of the business (i.e. buildings, land, and equipment)
- Students will demonstrate competence by doing the following:
- Record the capital needs of the business
- Students will show understanding through the following:
- List available land resources
- List available building resources
- List available equipment resources
- Discuss cropping requirements as they compare to the available equipment
- Discuss livestock housing requirements needed for desired livestock numbers
- Discuss land requirements needed for all livestock and cropping enterprises
5. Identify balance sheet ratios
- Students will demonstrate competence by doing the following:
- Review individual balance sheet ratios
- Students will show understanding through the following:
- Identify and discuss working capital with instructor
- Identify and discuss current ratio with instructor
- Identify and discuss the solvency ratios with instructor
6. Determine the individual farm credit needs of your operation
- Students will demonstrate competence by doing the following:
- Identify annual credit needs
- Students will show understanding through the following:
- Identify peak operating cash needs
- Identify appropriate term length for capital expenditures
- Identify various refinance options
- Characterize short, intermediate, and long-term credit
7. Construct the cash flow plan
- Students will demonstrate competence by doing the following:
- Construct a cash flow plan
- Students will show understanding through the following:
- Annual cash flow plan has complete livestock and crop budgets
- Annual cash flow plan has complete financial statement
- Annual cash flow plan has crop acreage projections
- Annual cash flow plan has livestock production projections
- Annual cash flow plan contains anticipated capital purchases and sales
- Annual cash flow plan contains anticipated credit needs
- Annual cash flow plan contains related operating expense for the farm
- Annual cash flow plan contains other cash income and expenses including family living and taxes payable
8. Demonstrate preparation for conducting a year-end closeout and analysis
- Students will demonstrate competence by doing the following:
- Assemble components of a year-end analysis
- Students will show understanding through the following:
- All income and expense categories are totaled and ready for entry into analysis instrument
- The cash check is within 2% of all cash
- The liability check reconciles to zero
- The livestock inventories check reconciles to zero
- The crop and feed check reconcile to zero or discrepancies can be explained (i.e. seed usage)
- Complete an inventory of all assets
- Complete an inventory of all liabilities
- Complete a worksheet of all crop production data
- Complete a worksheet of all livestock production data
9. Apply enterprise budgeting concepts
- Students will demonstrate competence by doing the following:
- Apply enterprise budgets in a cash flow projection
- Students will show understanding through the following:
- Enterprise budgets show detailed income
- Enterprise budgets show detailed expenses
- Enterprise budgets show detailed production
- Enterprise budgets show non-cash items (i.e. death loss percentage, labor hours, quantity feed fed, months on farm, etc.)
10. Identify current issues related to the farm business
- Students will demonstrate competence by doing the following:
- Discuss current issues that affect your farm business
- Students will show understanding through the following:
- Identify state and local issues and concerns as they relate to your individual farm business
- Identify regional issues and concerns as they relate to your individual farm business
- Identify national and global issues and concerns as they relate to your individual farm business
- Discuss components of the federal farm bill as it relates to your individual farm business
11. Assemble business, family, and personal goals
12. Explain Financial Plans with Stakeholders