I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Refining Farm System Management

2. Course Prefix & Number:
FBMT 2162

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 4

4. Course Description:

This course is the culmination of activities designed to enable the student to develop and implement a comprehensive farm business strategic plan. The student will use the components of the Farm Business Management Program to develop and support a farm business strategic plan.

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
Applications in Farm Business Management	Certificate

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Utilize appropriate technology	Student will critique a financial accounting system

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Evaluate strategic opportunities by assessing and exploring current and new enterprise opportunities;
• Evaluate business structure and ownership opportunities (i.e. LLC, Partnerships, S or C corp, including new partners or transfer to new potential owners);
• Justify enterprise budgeting;
• Evaluate financial ratios;
• Prioritize strategies to improve enterprise trend direction;
• Appraise strategies to improve new & existing enterprise trend direction;
• Assess a risk management plan;
• Evaluate emerging technologies;
• Inventory existing technologies;
• Prioritize future technology needs;
• Evaluate benchmark trends; and
• Develop a strategic plan.

V. Topical Outline

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

1. Lecture Sessions

1. identify business continuation opportunities
• list most profitable enterprises
• list potential new enterprises
• identify possible changes in business structure (i.e.: LLC, partnership, S Corp, etc.)
• identify possible changes in business ownership (i.e.: new partners, transfer of ownership, etc.)
2. Prioritize strategies to improve enterprise trend direction
• compare the advantages and disadvantages of implementing the strategy
• examine trend data to identify underperforming enterprises
• create prioritized strategies to improve underperforming enterprises
3. Evaluate historical farm trends
• summarize how past decisions have affected farm business performance and change
• utilize historical data to predict future direction of the farm business
4. Evaluate financial ratios
• compare financial ratio trends to benchmark information
• summarize the affect of past decisions on current farm financial ratios
• evaluate the strength of current financial ratios
• explore opportunities for financial ratio improvement
5. Justify business projections
• utilize past financial data to accurately project cash flow
• utilize actual business data to defend the cash flow projection
6. Justify enterprise budgeting
• utilize past financial data to accurately prepare enterprise budgets
• evaluate current market volatility
• utilize trend data to justify the enterprise budgets
7. Assess risk management plan
• level of environmental risk
• level of biological risk
• level of production risk
• level of social/labor/human resource risk
• level of financial risk
• level of marketing risk
8. Evaluate emerging technologies
• evaluate current technology system(s)
• evaluate current technology needs
• determine the compatibility of new technology with existing systems