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Prairie Shortcuts Farm business planning manual online Farm business planning provides an understanding of where your farm is, where it's headed, how
you might reach certain goals, and why you should consider adopting particular strategies. To that end, the North Dakota State University Department of Agricultural Economics has a Farm Business Planning Manual
available on the Internet at Hest, Swenson elected to MAWG board Bryan Hest, Perley, MN and Scott Swenson, Elbow Lake, MN, have been elected to the board of the Minnesota Association of Wheat Growers. Flexible land leases have advantages Flexible leases for land have several advantages for both landlords and farm operators, according to University of Minnesota extension educator Fraser Norton. Profits, price and production risk are shared between landlord and operator, and actual rent adjusts automatically as price or production conditions change. And flexible leases are preferable to crop share agreements since landowners don't have to be involved with crop input and grain marketing decisions. There are several types of flexible cash rental leases to choose from, depending on whether the two parties want to share only the price risk, only the production risk, or both. Norton has written a fact sheet called "Flexible Cash Rent Arrangements" which has more details, including sample calculations. It's available at U of M county extension offices. Norton can be reached at (507) 283-8685. The flex rent fact sheet is also posted in the Prairie Grains extra link on the MN Wheat website, www.smallgrains. org. Impress landlords, lenders with a farm resume Just as job applicants need to sell themselves to a prospective
employer, crop producers might want to consider developing a "farm resume" to help communicate and sell themselves to a MBGA elects new leadership Peter Friederichs from Foxhome, MN, was recently appointed to the board of the Minnesota Barley Growers Association, replacing Steve Blilie's vacant seat in District 3. Also, Kelman Kvien, Roseau, MN has been elected to replace Kraig Lee in District 1. Kelman's appointment to the MBGA Board will begin on July 1. The MBGA seeks another producer to represent District 2 (representing Polk, Norman, Mahnomen, Clearwater, Hubbard, Pennington and Red Lake Counties) beginning July 1. Contact the MBGA office at 1-800-242-6118. Be careful about production contract terms Before you put your name on the dotted line of a production contract, read the fine print. For example, be cautious about signing any type of "non- GMO" certification or contract with a grain dealer or processor. Growers should be especially careful not to certify what they can't control, says U of M extension educator Kent Thiesse. A good rule of thumb, says Thiesse, is to sign only contract or certification statements regarding non-GMO production that can be reasonably verified if problems occur. A publication titled "A Producer's Guide to Production Contracts," developed by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, is available free to Minnesota farmers. It is available from U of M county extension offices, or by calling (800) 967-2474. Obtain your ballot for Wheat Council Elections Request your ballots now for the Minnesota Wheat Research and
Promotion Council Board of Directors Elections. The elections will be held by mail ballot between March 15-31, 2000. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture will be sending mail ballots to all producers who have
requested a mail ballot anytime since the mail balloting has occurred. Producers who have not requested a ballot before may do so by doing one of the following:
• Request a ballot at the Department of Agriculture's Web site |
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