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, self and business 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:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

There are no prerequisites for this course.

9. Co-requisite Courses:

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):

Name of Program(s)	Program Type
Essentials in 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:

• List current levels of business exposure to risk;
• Identify steps in the decision making process;
• Record the unpaid and paid labor needs for the farm business;
• Record the capital needs of the business; (i.e. buildings, land, and equipment):
• Identify balance sheet ratios;
• Determine Identify farm credit needs;
• Construct the cash flow plan;
• Explain the process for conducting a year-end closeout and analysis;
• Apply enterprise budgeting concepts:
• Identify current issues related to the farm business;
• Discuss business, family, and personal goals; and
• Discuss financial plans with stakeholders.

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

1. Current levels of business exposure to risk
• Environmental risk
• Biological risk
• Production risk
• Social/labor/human resource risk
• Level of financial risk
• Level of marketing risk
2. Steps in the decision making process
• Obtain relevant data
• Generate alternatives
• Evaluate alternatives
• Choose a decision
• Implement the decision
• Evaluate the decision
3. Unpaid and paid labor needs for the farm business;
• Family labor inventory
• Hired labor inventory
• Labor audit for crop enterprises
• Labor audit for livestock enterprises
• Labor audit for general farm labor
• Labor needs with available labor
4. Capital needs of the business; (i.e., buildings, land, and equipment)
• Land resources available
• Building resources available
• Equipment resources available
• Cropping requirements as they compare to the available equipment
• Livestock housing requirements needed for desired livestock numbers
• Land requirements needed for all livestock and cropping enterprises
5. Balance sheet ratios
• Working capital
• Current ratio
• Solvency ratios
6. Farm credit needs
• Peak operating cash needs
• Appropriate term length for capital expenditures
• Refinance options
• Characterize short, intermediate and long term credit
7. Cash flow plan
• Complete livestock and crop budgets
• Complete financial statement
• C. Crop acreage projections
• Livestock production projections
• Anticipated capital purchases and sales
• Anticipated credit needs
• Related operating expense for the farm
• Other cash income and expense including family living and taxes payable
8. A year-end closeout and analysis
• Income and expense categories totaled and ready for entry into analysis instrument
• Cash check is within 2% of all cash
• Liability check reconciles to zero
• Livestock inventories check reconciles to zero
• Crop and feed check reconciles to zero
• Complete inventory of all assets
• Complete inventory of all liabilities
• Crop production data
• Livestock production data
9. Enterprise budgeting concepts
• Detailed income
• Detailed expenses
• Detailed production
• Non-cash items (i.e., death loss percentage, labor hours, quantity feed fed, months on farm, etc.)
10. Current issues related to the farm business
• State and local issues and concerns
• Regional issues and concerns
• National and global issues and concerns
• Components of the federal farm bill
11. Business, family, and personal goals
12. Financial Plans with stakeholders