Business
Farm Business Management efforts of the NWNY Dairy, Livestock, and Field Crops Program seek to increase the likelihood that the region's farm business owners achieve desired results by applying enhanced general business management, and farm financial management skills.To achieve the above purpose, program specialists Petzen and Hanchar develop and deliver extension education opportunities designed to enhance participants' management skills, and abilities to apply principles and ideas from finance and economics in a management context.
Owners of farm businesses enhance their management skills, their capacities to measure the financial condition and performance of their businesses, and their capacities to utilize economic principles in decision making via workshops, classes, presentations, writings, and individual farm business summary and economic analysis work.
Management Education. Emphasis is on enhancing the planning, implementation and control functions of the farm business manager.
Farm Finance and Economics. Emphasis is on enhancing participants' abilities to measure the financial condition and performance of the business for management purposes, and to use economic principles in decision making. Basic and Advanced Farm Financial Management workshops, Cornell University Cooperative Extension's Dairy Farm Business Summary Program, and other Farm Business Summary and Analysis tools play prominent roles here. Economic analyses of proposed changes to farm businesses provide farm business owners with information for decision making -- for example, economic analysis of tractor drawn tile plows, intensive wheat management systems, cow comfort practices, stacked corn hybrids, hay conditioners, zone tillage depths and others.
BUSINESS CATEGORIES
2021 Working Paper by John Hanchar and Aaron Ristow
John Hanchar, Farm Business Management
Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops
Working Paper
Achieving Improved Soil Health Outcomes While Maintaining or Improving Economic Viability: Case Study of a Dairy Farm Business in the Genesee River Watershed, New York
John Hanchar, Cornell University/College of Agric. & Life Sciences/CCE/Dairy, Livestock and Field Crops Program
Aaron Ristow, American Farmland Trust
Summary
- The owners and primary operators of the Mulligan Farm, a dairy farm business in the Genesee River Watershed of New York, like many farm business owners today, seek to achieve improved soil health and related outcomes while maintaining or improving economic performance.
- The Mulligan Farm has successfully planned and implemented numerous cropping system changes designed to achieve improved soil health and related results.
- Economic analysis suggests that successful implementation of soil health improving practices coincided with improved economic performance.
Microgrant for Dairy Farmers in New York
The new Dairy Forward program is a partnership between American Farmland Trust (AFT) and Chobani. This program aims to help select dairy farm families in New York access information and professional services to help plan for farm transitions in the face of tremendous challenges such as a weak dairy economy, disruptions from severe weather, and an aging farmer population. AFT will make grants of $500 to $5,000 for professional services that further goals associated with farm transfer and succession planning, farm business planning, permanently protecting land, or adopting regenerative farming practices. This is a great opportunity for dairy farm families who are thinking about transitioning their farm to a new generation, hoping to protect their farm, looking to improve farm profitability, or are interested in adopting regenerative practices. Applications are currently available until funds are used up. Funds will be paid directly to business providers.
Dairy Culture Coach Winter 2020
Libby Eiholzer, Bilingual Dairy
Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops
Check out the latest issue of the Dairy Culture Coach:
- Communicating with Your Multicultural Team
- What's Happening in Mexico and Guatemala
- Recognizing Your Team
- Covid-19
Dairy Culture Coach Fall 2020
Libby Eiholzer, Bilingual Dairy
Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops
Check out the latest issue of the Dairy Culture Coach!
- COVID-19 Update
- Flu Season is Here
- Influenza (gripe) / Influenza (flu)
- Somatic Cell Count / Conteo de Células Somáticas
- Keep SCC Low / Mantener bajo el CCS
Dairy Culture Coach Summer 2020
Libby Eiholzer, Bilingual Dairy
Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops
The latest issue of the Dairy Culture Coach is out, including the following:
- New and Effective Method for Cockroach Control
- What is the Census?
- ¿Qué es el Censo?
- Encuesta Sobre COVID-19 Survey (For industry, dairy producers, and dairy farm workers)
- Spanish Farm Management Program Inquiry
- Farmworker Survey about COVID-19 from NYCAMH
Thanks and as always please reach out with any questions or comments!
Farm Financial Management Practices for Unfavorable Economic Conditions
Sound financial planning and control improve owner's abilities to manage their businesses during unfavorable economic conditions. Consider the current environment affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lack of rain in many areas. Budgeting is a valuable farm financial management practice for these situations. Visit (Brandie, please insert link here) to learn more about budgeting and its value in managing your farm business.
Are You Milking Some Cows You Shouldn't Be?
This article shares resources from Pro-DAIRY to help you develop management strategies for your dairy moving forward. It shares some lessons from the historical Milk Diversion Program that might help inform decision making in this price downturn. Your business must be nimble and ready to change production practices to bring costs in line with the prices you are receiving and paying. Eventually, markets will reopen and sales will return. In the meantime, easing back on the throttle in how we manage cows and how many cows we keep could be good strategies for the current situation.
" Do's and Don'ts for Dairy farmers When Facing Financial Difficulty"
During times of financial difficulty it is important to be mindful and methodical in financial decision making. " Do's and Don'ts for Dairy farmers When Facing Financial Difficulty" provides guidance on making objective decisions during a financial downturn.
Dairy Culture Coach Spring 2020
Libby Eiholzer, Bilingual Dairy
Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops
The latest issue of the Dairy Culture Coach includes the following topics:
- Reliable Resources for Spanish- & English-Speaking Farmworkers about COVID-19
- Spanish Webinar: Mastitis Treatment Decisions
- Growing Great People Webinars
- Bring Your Own Bag
Some Thoughts on the Current State of Dairy Markets - April 1, 2020
Joan Sinclair Petzen, Farm Business Management
Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops
Excerpts from information provided by Andrew Novakovic, PHD, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University and, Dr. Mark Stephenson, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Dairy Culture Coach December 2019
Libby Eiholzer, Bilingual Dairy
Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops
The latest issue of the Dairy Culture Coach includes the following topics:
- An Overview of The Farm Laborer Fair Labor Practices Act (FLFLPA)
- Tools to help you make management decisions related to the FLFLPA
- Vocabulary related to the FLFLPA
- Additional resources on the FLFLPA
Please feel free to contact Libby with questions, to subscribe to the newsletter, or to make suggestions for future content. geg24@cornell.edu or 607-793-4847.
Dairy Training Resources
Libby Eiholzer, Bilingual Dairy
Northwest New York Dairy, Livestock & Field Crops
This document will guide you to many of the resources available for training dairy farm employees. Topics include:
- Safety
- Animal Handling
- Calf Care
- Milk Quality
- Calving Assitance
- Reproduction
- Herd Health
- Lameness/Hoof Trimming
- Forages/Feeding
- Creating Human Resource Management Documents
- Employee Housing
- Learning Spanish/English
Dairy
Livestock
Grazing
Forages
Grains
Upcoming Events
On-Farm Dairy Processing Online Series 2022
May 25, 2022
June 1, 2022
June 8, 2022
A FREE, virtual three part webinar series for dairy producers interested in diversifying or vertically integrating their business. Our discussion will include market availability and considerations, business planning and goals, interacting with regulatory agencies, planning requirements, and equipment types and layout, audit readiness, compliance training and record keeping.
Herdsperson Training - Genesee County
June 7, 2022
LeRoy, NY
Registration Now Open! This workshop will teach fresh cow assessment and monitoring practices to recognize and minimize fresh cow metabolic disease rates and improve fresh cow health. This training is in-person and will be offered in both English and Spanish.
Herdsperson Training - Ontario County
June 8, 2022
Canandaigua , NY
Registration Now Open! This workshop will teach fresh cow assessment and monitoring practices to recognize and minimize fresh cow metabolic disease rates and improve fresh cow health. This training is in-person and will be offered in both English and Spanish.
Announcements
Poultry Producers - Be on the Lookout for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza!
After the recent incident of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Long Island, anyone involved with poultry production should review their biosecurity activities to assure the health of their birds.Amy Barkley, Livestock and Beginning Farm Specialist with the SWNY Dairy, Livestock, and Field Crops Program, has developed a resource sheet to help poultry producers be on the lookout for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.
A shared Box folder has been created to share additional resources as they become available.
The NWNY Team Blog
Our goal for this blog is to share with farmers and allied industry professionals, technical and applicable resources regarding all aspects of dairy farming, livestock and small farms, field crops and soils, and topics related to farm business management and precision agriculture.The blog will feature Crop Alerts, Dairy Alerts, Bilingual (Spanish) Resources, Upcoming Events and more from our team members. This blog is free for everyone to use, explore and enjoy. When new material is published, subscribers will receive an email notification.
We hope you enjoy this new platform, and are looking forward to engaging with you in the future!