Agriculture

There are several existing resources and programs that will be helpful for Agricultural producers in this current economic time:

• eXtension has web resources related to this topic under Financial Crisis and Farms. Some of the articles that may be particularly useful are Farm Financial Scorecard, Partial Budgeting, and Establishing and Using a Farm Financial Record-keeping System.

• Missouri Ag Tax Tidbits provides an in depth source of information for anyone interested in agriculture tax issues. This information will help users identify and analyze tax related strategies that impact the bottom line of the farm business and facilitate achieving family goals and objectives.

• Missouri Agricultural Law Center provides Ag law news, statutes, publications and resources.

• National Ag Law Center offers publications on mediation, bankruptcy, finance and credit, and estate planning and taxation. These are useful articles and references; however, they are written by attorneys so they may not be easy for all readers to understand.

• Texas Risk Management Curriculum Guide provides risk management materials. This site has guides listed by topic that may be useful to producers.

• University of Missouri Extension Commercial Agriculture program has economic resources for producers.

• AgrAbility Project provides practical education and assistance to assist people with disabilities employed in agriculture. The AgrAbility Project assists people involved in production agriculture who work both on small and large operations.

• Farm and Small Business Estate Planning is a three-session course designed to improve participants' knowledge and comfort level in planning their estate. The topics of discussion include probate, estate planning tools, communication and property ownership.

• Sustainable Agriculture teaches farming practices and procedures that are economically profitable, environmentally sound and socially responsible.

• In addition to the three programs mentioned above, the University of Missouri Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources department also offers the following programs:

• Annie's Project provides training for women ages 19-84 in production management, financial management, marketing, legal issues and human resources.

• Business Management focuses on financial resources, record keeping, computer use, marketing and legal issues.

• Profit-Focused Agriculture focuses on enhancing economic viability and sustainability of Missouri agriculture by providing research-based frontier educational programs.

• Your Farm, Your Resources, Your Business includes information on financial resources, business planning, soils, matching livestock, proper equipment, horticulture production and legality.

For more articles and information, visit the University of Missouri Extension Ag News site.