I have compiled a list of my Top 10 Farm Management Resources. This list below also includes a brief summary of the information you will find on each site. Some of these may be new to you, or perhaps this may just serve as a reminder of great agribusiness tools that you have forgotten about. –Either way, I hope it helps.

(No preference is placed on the numeric order)

1) Ag Decision Maker, By Iowa State University

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/decisionaids.html

This website provides business tools and reports that can help you make better educated decisions for your farm.  The site provides fully functional production budgets, helps you learn about what other farmers are paying for inputs, analyze leases, and more.  It also features powerful calculators for Crop Decisions, Livestock Decisions, New Business Development Decisions and Whole Farm Decisions.

2) The Monsanto Performance Website

http://www.monsantoperformance.com/ 

This site contains a wealth of information and will link you to the Monsanto “Growing Knowledge Newsletter” for your specific region. The news letter itself contains current news, production tips and more.  The website also allows you to run county-by-county yield reports, get product information, and visit the Monsanto Learning Center website.

3) DTN Agriculture Webinars

http://www.dtn.com/dtnag/news/dtnag_webinars.cfm

DTN does a great job of creating free online agriculture seminars that answer important questions for all of us.  They cover topics like Taxes for Farmers, Futures, Production Issues and more.  If you can’t attend a seminar because of a schedule conflict, you can always replay the original later. 

4) Missouri State Agriculture Risk Management Website

http://extension.missouri.edu/seregion/Risk%20Mang..htm

This is one of those sites that doesn’t look fancy and is kind of difficult to navigate but contains lots of great information.  Topics covered are Farm Leases, Crop Insurance, Farm Building Plans, Ag Business Plans and more. 

5) MidWest Plan Service (MWPS)

http://www.mwps.org

The MidWest Plan Service (MWPS) is a publishing cooperative that publishes and peer-reviewed university agriculture research.  This is a one stop website for the latest and greatest research coming out or our Ag Extension schools and the USDA and covers all major topics including crops, soil, livestock, farm business and more. 

6) The National Agricultural Law Center by University of Arkansas

http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/

The National Agricultural Law Center is the only agricultural law research and information facility that is independent, national and international in scope, and directly connected to the national agricultural information network. The Center has expanded the scope of its coverage to include food law as it recognizes the expanding scope of agricultural law and its convergence with food law topics. The Center is staffed by a team of law and research professors, lawyers, other specialists, and graduate assistants from the University of Arkansas School of Law Graduate Program in Agricultural Law.

7) Peer to Peer online Discussion Forums

Try asking other farmers what they are doing or search though and read existing conversations.  This will help you get some perspective outside your direct network of neighbors and friends.  Forums are powerful tools and you can use a different screen name to maintain your anonymity.

8) Local USDA Cooperative Extension System Offices

http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/

The Cooperative Extension System is a nationwide, non-credit educational network. Each U.S. state and territory has a state office at its land-grant university and a network of local or regional offices. These offices are staffed by one or more experts who provide useful, practical, and research-based information to agricultural producers, small business owners, youth, consumers, and others in rural areas and communities of all sizes.

 
) Different Grower Association’s

http://alextiller.com/agribusiness_resource/List_of_Grower_Associations.pdf

There are many grower associations out there and most of them provide free research, reports, budgets, production costs, surveys and news to help you stay on top of any given subject.  I have provided a list of some Grower Associations to help you find your particular topic of interest. 

10) Agriculture Marketing Resource Center

 http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/

The Agricultural Marketing Resource Center is an electronic, national resource for producers that are interested in value-added agriculture. You can browse commodities and products, investigate market and industry trends, study business creation and operation, read research results and locate value-added resources.

Post by Alex Tiller

http://blog.alextiller.com