I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Current Issues in Farm Business Management

2. Course Prefix & Number:
FBMA 2214

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits - Variable: 1-5

4. Course Description:

This course is designed to assist students further develop their skills in business management. It provides an opportunity for students to investigate and apply tools that may be effective in improving risk management plans, strategic plans, and business plans in their farm business operations. Emphasis is placed on the research of business management alternatives to meet their business and personal needs. (Students may enroll in a range of one to five credits during each enrollment, depending on their individual needs at the time. Students are encouraged to enroll in this course in sequence with FBMA 2224 - Directed Studies - Current Issues in Farm Business Management.)

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

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):

Name of Program(s)	Program Type
Current Issues 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 key area(s) of concern with cost of production with selected enterprise
Utilize appropriate technology	Complete computerized records for the business
Work as a team member to achieve shared goals	Complete family and business goals with support team

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

• Identify terms of the current issue;
• Define related terminology;
• Explain concepts of topic;
• Apply current issue to business;
• Analyze the effects of current issue on your business;
• Identify steps of the implementation plan;
• Analyze historic data and/or rationale of changes;
• Identify strengths and weaknesses of business;
• Develop strategic plans or goals;
• Develop tax management plan;
• Maintain current accurate farm business records and accounts;
• Develop short term implementation plan;
• Develop long term implementation plan;
• Analyze current financial statement to determine feasibility; and
• Predict the effects of the current issue to financial statements.

V. Topical Outline

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

1. Lecture Sessions

1. Gather individual business and benchmarking data for developing business and personal goals
• Assess business need(s) using farm business analysis data
• Select the key area(s) of the business to target efforts
• Research publications and other sources of pertinent data
• Compare with individual, regional, state, and/or special sort business analysis data
• Develop updated business and personal goals related to key area(s)
2. Monitor and review all farm plans
• Monitor existing plans to assess potential change(s) related to new area(s)
• Evaluate updated goal(s) for addition to current  farm plan(s)
• Compare updated goal(s) for consistency with farm mission and vision
• Adjust statements as needed for inclusion in the farm plan(s)
3. Research data and evaluate alternatives for new or revised plans
• Assess new information to the farm plan for potential alternative(s) as needed
• Gather new data in support of alternative(s) for consideration
• Incorporate business analysis data with decisions to support alternative(s)
• Record findings
• Evaluate alternative(s)
4. Develop framework for revised farm plans that meet current business needs
• Specify modification(s) to the plan as needed, based on findings
• Develop a process for incorporation of modification(s) in a revised plan(s)
• Modify current plan(s) as needed to adjust for new goal(s)
• Develop evaluation and monitoring guidelines for the revised plan(s)
• Implement the revised plan(s)