Fearless Farm Finances: Farm Financial Management Demystified

Fearless Farm Finances is a resource for new farmers,farmers new to financial management, and those wishing to increase their understanding. The book simplifies the concepts and techniques of successful farm financial management, from setting up data collection systems and designing a QuickBooks bookkeeping program to understanding standard financial statements such as the balance sheet and income statement. Ways to assess and increase profitability, including the use of standardized ratios, enterprise budgets and partial budgets, budgeting and monitoring, as well as assessing markets and pricing, are also covered. Numerous examples from a diversity of working farms are used, as well as financial data from a fictional sample farm. This book will be relevant and useful for those managing all types of farms, including new farms, small farms, and diversified farms.

Jody Padgham, the project manager and editor, is the finance director of the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service. She has owned and managed a 60-acre grass-based sheep and organic poultry farm in north central Wisconsin since 2001.