The true cost of equipment breakdowns is often far higher than the dollars spent on parts to get up and running again. And regardless of why equipment breaks down, downtime adds additional costs to your operation.

Employees are one of the largest expenses on a farm – second only to feed costs. The most startling part of this statistic is that staff care is frequently low priority and high risk.

Profitability maps can be helpful for determining the relative extent to which different areas in a field are profitable or not, which can provide insights regarding whether there are any actions that can be taken to increase profitability in lagging areas.

While recent headlines regarding child labor violations have involved industries and occupations not categorized as agriculture, that does not mean agriculture operations and jobs are not being monitored to ensure compliance with child labor laws.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a producer in possession of any type of farm or ranch must be in want of updated machinery. So what considerations should play into a producer’s decision to custom hire versus purchasing, maintaining and operating their own equipment?

Every farm manager must make decisions about equipment. When to buy, when to sell and when to hire out the work are common questions. All of these decisions start from the same place: understanding your costs.

Although maintaining equipment takes time, it’s a worthwhile investment that can maximize your overall production. But if you want to maximize profitability for your farm, it’s equally as important to tune up your farm’s financial operations.

For many properties in Idaho, particularly rural properties, fences and other physical markers are often believed to be the boundary between neighboring properties and are treated as such.