LABOR MANAGEMENT IN AGRICULTURE: A CRITICAL MANAGEMENT FUNCTION

Labor and Human Capital,

Who Are Today’s Farmers and What are Their Educational Needs?

Labor and Human Capital, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Prepaid Farm Expenses

Farmers and ranchers often pay for feed, supplies, fertilizer, and other inputs in one year and use those items in the following year. They may do so to pay lower prices, guarantee availability, for planning purposes, and/or other reasons. The Internal Revenue Code allows qualified farmers and ranchers (farm-related taxpayers) to deduct the costs of such purchases in the year that the purchases are made rather than the year in which such items are used. Generally, the deduction for pre-paid farm supplies is limited to 50% of other deductible farm expenses (all schedule F deductions except supplies) for the year.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/rural_tax/1024/thumbnail.jp

Farm And Ranch Business Structures In The United States

Succession planning is a critical part of owning a farm or ranch. It enables a business to continue operating smoothly and effectively as it is passed onto future generations, partners, or successor owners. Historically, farms and ranches in the United States were operated as sole proprietorships. The land, machinery, livestock, and other assets were owned and used by an individual or husband-wife couple. The farmer or rancher was the business and the business was the farmer or rancher. A number of organizational structures are now available that may better meet the needs of today’s farm and ranch businesses, especially as the retiring generation transitions ownership of the assets and business to the successor generation. Each structure has advantages and disadvantages, beyond its main characteristics, when compared to one another. Farmers and ranchers should determine their risk preferences, as well as long and short term goals before seeking professional legal counsel when establishing their businesses. A series of fact sheets describing the seven most common business structures and a 2-page chart highlighting the general, formation, operational, liability, tax, ownership, and dissolution characteristics of each of the structures are available at RightRisk.org/RiskConcepts

AP - RightRisk: Risk Management Training For Agricultural Managers In The Rural United States

RightRisk is an Extension education program offered across the rural United States since its inception in 2002. Team members offer these programs using portable computer labs and web-based software to managers located in remote locations from the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the windswept-plains of Wyoming. Program offerings have expanded beyond the risk simulation – Ag Survivor – to include a ten-step process for strategic risk management with accompanying tools for implementation. Additional courses covering other dimensions of risk management have been developed, including: Feasibility of Alternative Rural Enterprises, Taxes for Agricultural Enterprises, and a two-module course entitled A Lasting Legacy. Alternative scenarios, covering various agricultural enterprises, make the simulation relevant to managers of rural farms and ranches. This flexibility and broad relevance of the fundamental concepts presented make these educational programs appealing for application in other rural areas

Managing financial stress: symptoms and strategies

February 2010.Originally published under series title: Agribusiness financial report

NPR - AG HELP WANTED: GUIDELINES FOR MANAGING AGRICULTURAL LABOR

Ag Help Wanted is an educational guidebook designed to assist every person who currently manages or expects to manage human resources on farms, ranches, nurseries, dairies, and other agricultural operations. The book can be used as a source of ideas for improving management policies or practices, an occasional reference in coping with problems that arise, or a base for systematic study of human resource management in agriculture. It presents principles, practical examples, regulatory considerations, and leads to more references that all help equip managers to make choices that are reasonable, legal, and ultimately effective for both their businesses and the people they employ. Ag Help Wanted components include: the Ag Help Wanted guidebook in both printed and digital (PDF) formats and an online companion website (AgHelpWanted.org) that provides: links to book content, content highlights (English/Spanish), support links to federal, state, and other supporting agency documents/websites, and video clips offering nine sets of brief vignettes that illustrate approaches to one-on-one communication in problem work situations

NPR - “A Lasting Legacyâ€: Leave A Legacy In Agriculture (p85-91)

Legacy is frequently used to describe the financial assets and personal possessions that people leave their heirs when they die. But all human beings also have values, life lessons, beliefs, memories, relationships, accomplishments and other nonmaterial things that could be handed down to future generations. Due to the increasing demands for assistance with succession planning, the authors developed a 2-course educational program to aid in their efforts to help farm families. A Lasting Legacy provides one approach to end-of-life planning and suggests a road map for embracing the meaning of one’s life. The process helps families go through a safe, hands-on approach to pass on a true legacy to younger generations. A Lasting Legacy captures all facets of an individual’s life: improving intergenerational relationships; 2) sharing values and life lessons; 3) passing on personal possessions of emotional value; preparing for end of life events; and distributing financial assets and real estate. A Lasting Legacy has been successfully used by farm and non-farm families to better deal with the end of one’s life