Economic State of Kansas Agriculture

February 12, 2019
Kevin Herbel

The executive director of the Kansas Farm Management Association, K-State's Kevin Herbel, offers his assessment of the economic state of production agriculture in Kansas currently, and offers a checklist of what producers can do to improve their financial management in 2019:  setting achievable goals; keeping an organized set of financial records; and managing debt structure. He also details the benefits of conducting an enterprise analysis and projecting the financial returns to each enterprise; using economic benchmarks for a comparative analysis of an operation; and preparing a cash flow for the farm or ranch, as well as looks at the family expenses on a farm, including health care and insurance.