Annie’s Project, Heart of the
Farm, and Beyond—Moving
Past Introductions
to Farm Financial and Risk
Management
Aliesha R. Crowe
University of WisconsinExtension
Rusk County
University of Wisconsin Program on
Agriculture Technology Studies Research
• most farm women are responsible for the
financial record keeping on their farm and
also share in the decision-making to borrow
money and/or expand the operation¹
Other Responsibilities
Source: Wisconsin
Family Farm Facts,
No 20, September
2003. PATSresearch findings
Farm Women in Rusk County
• 306 Woman Operators2
– 31 Sole operators
– 275 woman operators on farm with more than one
operator
– 58 Principal operators3
• Producers are interested in: Measuring enterprise
profitability, low cost production systems, cost of
production calculations, dairy herd health, private
woodlot management4
HEART OF THE FARM--WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE + ANNIE’S PROJECT
Mission
Farm Management and Production Education for Women
Improving Farm Business Decision-Making
Goal
The Heart of the Farm - Women in Agriculture Conference Series and
Annie's Project address the needs of farm women by providing
education on pertinent topics, connecting them with agricultural
resources, and creating support networks.
Possible Future Topics
Mission
Farm Management and
Production Education
for Women
Improving Farm Business
Decision-Making
Goal
Heart of the farm will continue
to provide program topics
identified by women in
agriculture. Future program
topics may include:
Farm Transfers
Nutrient Management
Financial Software
Retirement
Farm Safety
Marketing
Production Issues
Risk Management
Heart of
the Farm
The Heart of the Farm– Women
in Agriculture Conference Series
addresses the needs of farm
women by providing education
on pertinent topics, connecting
them
with
agricultural
resources, and creating support
networks.
Women in Agriculture
Conference Series
For More Information about the
Heart of the Farm
program contact:
Joy Kirkpatick, 608.263.3485
(joy.kirkpatrick@ces.uwex.edu)
or
Jenny Vanderlin 608.263.7795
www.uwex.edu/ces/heartofthefarm
2005-06
Schedule
Pictures and Comments
“An excellent
chance to network
and meet a
support group”
November 2005
Marinette County
Contact: Scott Reuss, Marinette
County, 715.732.7510.
February 2006
Rusk County
Contact: Aliesha Crowe, Rusk County,
715.532.2151.
2 March 2006
The Plaza Hotel
Eau Claire, WI
Contact: Bob Cropp, Pepin County,
608.272.5214.
“The humor everyone used
was very uplifting”
“Only women...It was great
meeting other women”
3 March 2006
LaSure’s Hall
Oshkosh, WI
Contact: Kevin Jarek, Outagamie
County, 920.832.5119.
“It was so nice to
finally have a
farm women
meeting”
Sponsors
“Excellent Conference!”
“I enjoyed it very much
and learned a lot about
myself and about how I
can improve our lives on
the farm”
“This was my first Extension Program, it
was an Excellent Experience!”
“Women have different needs and
bring different issues to the field”
One day conferences in Rusk
County
2003: “Got Risk”, Play (stress management), Health Insurance,
Planning for the 5D’s(18 women)
2004: Health Care Options; Managing Family, Farm, Jobs, and
Personal Priorities; Price Risk Management, Nutrition, Tatting
(21/12 women)
2005: Cancelled—only 5 women pre-registered
2006: Farm transfer; female leadership in agriculture; nutrient
management; value-added agriculture trends (15 women)
2007: Two advanced focus topics: Dairy Price Risk Management,
and Using Excel for recordkeeping(6 women)
Other Women in Agriculture Programs
• 2003 HOF Network formation
• 2003 “HOF Mini-conference”—Business
Management
• 2004 “Women Investing”
• 2006 Individual Financial Management Counseling
(2 women + 5 families)
• 2006 Annie’s Project (15 women)
Annie’s Project
Farm Financial Management for Women
Flambeau School, Tony
6:30p.m.
October 5
Introduction to Risk Management & Financial Statements
October 12
Balancing Act—Balance Sheets
October 26
Introduction to Financial & Production Record Keeping
November 2
Human Resource Management
November 9
Participants Choice
Annie’s Project is designed to empower farm women to manage information systems used in
critical decision making processes and to build local support networks, throughout the state. The
target audience is farmwomen with a passion for agri-business and/or involvement in an agribusiness they married into, were a part of all their life, or just plain wanted to start on their own.
This five-week series will address topics relevant to agri-business management including: risk
management, human resource management, financial record-keeping including computerized
systems, balance sheets, budgeting, and production record-keeping.
The sessions will be held on Thursday evenings at the Flambeau School in Tony beginning at
6:30p.m. each evening. Pre-registration is required, and the class size will be limited in order to
ensure access to computers for all participants. The cost of this series is $15.00.
Evaluations from HOF and Annie’s
• “Would rather have known more financial
information”
• HOF: Financial, farm accounting, computer
software
• Annie’s Project: Request for entire
workshop: COP (4), market analysis, excel
spreadsheets, Production record-keeping
Moving Beyond the Introductory Programs
Heart of the Farm Network Formation
No regular meetings
Virtual connection
Mentor/Mentee farmers
Moving Beyond the Introductory Programs
CASE STUDY FARM 1
: Farm woman attended HOF Conference in 2006
• Husband/Wife purchased their own farm in 2006
• Finpack Analysis of Farm Financial situation summer 2006
• 2006 Annie’s Project Participant
CASE STUDY #1: After attending Annie’s Project in Fall 2006
“My goals are:
make a business plan
get the somatic cell count down
get the milk output up
get the parlor built
protocols for dry cows, mastitis, milking, fresh cows, calf feeding dry cow
housing "system" and cleanliness dry cow feeding dairy cow housing for
winter and feeding, both physical feeding and nutritional calf housing for
winter and a grazing plan for them, again physical feeding and nutritional
raising our bull calves for organic feeders
All without spending a million dollars! I think it can all be done without a
terrific outlay of cash, but I think the benefits will really make a difference
in my bottom line as well as SCC, cow longevity, decrease in teat damage
and many other things.”
Case Study #1
• Formation of a Milk Money5 Team to address milk quality goals
Team members: farm woman, milk plant rep, veterinarian,
UWEX Ag. Agent
–
–
–
–
Met for three months
Cultured all high cell count cows
Updated milking system
Began transition to Organic treatment protocols because of
Organic Certification
– Evaluation of dry cow housing
• Currently writing her business plan
Case Study #1
Case Study #2
• Farm Family—current husband/wife
operators
• Older children interested in participation in
farm
• Want to expand on current record-keeping
practices including use of computer software
• Annie’s Project 2006 participant
Case Study #3
• Operates farm with Husband
• Attended all HOF conferences, Annie’s Project, and
HOF network planner
• Currently using computerized records
• Utilized state specialist for evaluation of buildings for
low-cost parlor installation
• Financial Management Counseling--calculated
break-even point, Cost of Production
Case Study #3
“I am interested in the ‘Team Profit’. We are at
a point here that we are contemplating either
expanding or quitting. We are also thinking
of moving all operations to our place and not
renting [landlord’s]. I told [my husband] that
we need help in evaluating our situation.”
Impact
Impact
SHORT TERM
MEDIUM TERM
• Learning
• Decision-making
– Purchasing software
• Awareness
– Using break-even
analysis
• Practice
– Implementing
practices from teams
– Using Software
LONG TERM
Tools
Topic specific workshops:
• Balance Sheet
Challenge6
• Excel Exercises7
• Cost per CWT8
spreadsheet
Farm Specific Programs:
• Milk Money Teams
• Team Profit
• Computer Software
training
Example Exercise:
Balance Sheet Challenge
Summary:
•Establish programs specifically for Women in Agriculture
•Provide relevant topics for farm woman who are making
decisions and playing vital role in farm operation
•Provide opportunity to network with other farm women
•Provide programs that do more than scratch the surface
of topic or issue based on participant input
•Provide farm-specific programs that involve all operators
Resources
1. Wisconsin Farm Family Facts, The Roles of Women on Wisconsin
Dairy Farms at the Turn of the 21st Century, No. 16, November 2001.
2. 2002 Census of Agriculture – County data, 504 Wisconsin, Table 48
3. 2002 Census of Agriculture – County data, 503 Wisconsin, Table 47
4. Rusk County Agriculture Survey 2003
5. World’s Best Milk Quality Website http://www.uwex.edu/MilkQuality/
6. Survivor--The Balance Sheet Challenge, Robert K. Cropp, UWEX
7. Spreadsheets for Farmers
http://www.spreadsheets4farmers.com/worksheets.html
8. Center For Dairy Profitability Decision Making Tools
http://cdp.wisc.edu/Decision%20Making%20Tools.htm
Aliesha R. Crowe
Rusk County UW-Extension
Agriculture Agent
311 E. Miner Avenue
Suite S140
Ladysmith, WI 54848
phone:715-532-2151
fax: 715-532-2279
aliesha.crowe@ces.uwex.edu
http://rusk.uwex.edu