PRIMER

Missouri farmers must deal with a number of questions as they seek to diversify their farm businesses. I often get asked by people seeking agricultural information, “What can I do to make money from my land?  How can I diversify my farm and make more profits?  What can I produce to sustain or improve profits on my farm?”

Beginning farmers are often seeking a miracle crop or livestock enterprise that will bring immediate prosperity. The search for “what” to produce has led many farmers to experiment with new and different crop and livestock opportunities with varying degrees of success. Success or failure often depends on how well issues beyond the “what” are dealt with. Perhaps the major emphasis should not be on “What to produce?” but on “How to select the right enterprise for my farm.”

New or expanded enterprises are likely to have a different set of financial, marketing, management, and policy options than growers have experienced with traditional enterprises. Focusing on “How to select the right enterprise” instead of the “What to produce” will allow you to thoroughly evaluate a wide range of options instead of concentrating on a few “pie in the sky” alternatives that might work for a few producers and fail for many.

Years ago school aged children learned with primers.  If we take the letters PRIMER we can use them to represent the basic factors to consider when making a decision about new or expanded enterprises for the farm. P stands for profitability, R stands for resources, I represents information, M represents marketing, E stands for enthusiasm, and R stands for risk.

These six factors: profitability, resources, information, marketing, enthusiasm, and risk are the basic elements which should drive any decision to adopt a new enterprise on the farm.

More to come....