Agricultural business and policy : publication
See 7 ways to add value to farm commodities or products, and learn how to turn a value-added agriculture idea into a business that can increase farm income.
Farmers and agribusinesses, learn about commodity exchange markets and contract specifications for selected farm commodities common to Missouri in this guide.
Find out what the EPA’s Worker Protection Standard requires of family-owned agricultural establishments to keep your family safe from pesticide exposure.
Missouri farms and ranches must have a safety and health program that complies with OSHA rules, regulations and standards if they have employees. Read this FAQ for details.
Use this enterprise budget as a guide to estimate your production costs and returns when producing alfalfa baleage as a forage crop on Missouri farms.
Use this enterprise budget as a guide to estimate your production costs and returns when planting and establishing alfalfa as a forage crop in Missouri.
Use this enterprise budget to plan how to produce, finance and market alfalfa sold as small hay bales in Missouri. It links to the Missouri Forage Budget Generator spreadsheet.
Discover how agricultural commodity basis applies to crops and livestock and affects your farm's production, forward pricing, hedging and storage decisions.
Learn what research says about how animal feeding operations affect nearby home prices. Beef, dairy, poultry and hogs may affect values differently.
Learn how tax law applies to farmer-owned cooperatives and affects deductions allowed, patronage refunds, notices of allocation and unallocated equity.
Learn about key elements necessary for creating quality written farm leases between tenants and landowners.
Learn how to start and operate an agricultural cooperative under Missouri law, and read about farm co-op members' rights and board of director responsibilities.
Use this budget to estimate costs and returns for backgrounded steer calves in Missouri, and summarize detailed assumptions and feed requirements.
Use this budget to estimate costs and returns for buying beef heifer calves and selling them as bred replacement heifers in Missouri.
Use this enterprise budget to estimate costs and returns when beekeeping and producing honey in Missouri.
Learn how to find a value-added agricultural product’s break-even price and use it to set the product's price and estimate its break-even revenue and unit sales.
Learn about funding offered by federal programs in support of agricultural and forestry innovations, specifically, program resources in community development; sustainable land management; and value-added and diversified agriculture and forestry.
Learn about employment, wage and training trends in Missouri's food, agriculture and forestry workforce. Plus, see what it will take to fill jobs in these industries.
Check out this glossary of commodity futures and options keywords and their definitions to broaden your understanding of agricultural commodities markets.
Get tips on how a farm tenant or renter can best communicate with farm landowners, and learn the information farm operators should share with landowners.
Conservation practice can affect leases and the relationship between landowners and tenants. This guide presents topics to address when incorporating conservation and ecosystem services into a lease agreement.
View the five requirements that make a contract legally enforceable, and learn how farms and agribusinesses use contracts to conduct business effectively.
Examine financial feasibility of converting a conventional Missouri dairy into a 75-cow intensive rotational grazing dairy using the income and cash flow statements and budget.
Use this enterprise budget to plan how to finance, establish and graze cool-season pastures on Missouri farms. It links to the Missouri Forage Budget Generator spreadsheet.
Use this crop enterprise budget as a guide to estimate your production costs and returns when growing corn in Missouri under dryland conditions.
Use this crop enterprise budget as a guide to estimate your production costs and returns when growing corn in Missouri under irrigation.
Use this crop enterprise budget as a guide to estimate your production costs and revenues when growing corn silage on Missouri farms.
Get a sample crop-share lease form and learn the advangtages and disadvantages of crop-share leases, basic principles, methods and concerns for developing an equitable arrangement and establishing rent, and the importance of putting it in writing.
Use this budget to estimate costs and returns for a 150-cow confinement dairy (replacements raised on-farm) in Missouri and see input, feed and investment needs.
Use this budget to estimate costs and returns for a 150-cow rotational grazing dairy (replacements raised on-farm) in Missouri, and see input, feed and investment needs.
Discover how to move toward owning or partnering in a grazing dairy by working as an employee, managing a farm, contract milking or sharemilking.
Keeping records and tracking cost and production benchmarks can help you gauge a grazing dairy's financial performance. Read about pasture dairy performance indicators in this MU Extension guide.
Discover four characteristics of profitable pasture-based dairies: system design, focused investments, cost control and careful approach to financial leverage.
Use this budget to estimate costs and returns for raising dairy heifers purchased at birth, bred and sold at 24 months in Missouri, and see input and feed needs.
Learn the number of days Missouri farms have available per week—due to weather and soil conditions—for tillage, planting, chemical application and harvest activities.
Introduce yourself and your qualifications as a farm renter. Follow these tips to create a paper resume or LinkedIn profile for sharing with landowners.
Major changes are occurring in how electricity is generated, distributed and used. Learn about this transition from centralized energy generation towards distributed energy generation and the potential impacts it will have for rural landowners.
See the steps and examples you can follow to develop enterprise budgets, create a cashflow plan and estimate economic indicators for agroforestry practices.
Marketing beef direct-to-consumer is an complex business with many challenges. This guide explores common marketing options for beef producers, important considerations for direct-to-consumer marketing and the costs and returns of selling beef directly to consumers.
Learn how to manage risk and protect your farm with liability insurance. Understand who is covered, what damages are covered and general liability insurance exclusions.
Missouri employers can use the H-2A visa program to get foreign workers for agricultural jobs. Learn about the H-2A visa process, who can help, costs and employer requirements.
Animal owners can have legal liability for acts of their farm livestock or pets. Learn about animal owner responsibilities and how to protect yourself from a lawsuit.
Find farmland value price trends in Missouri and other Midwestern states since 1912.
Find the U.S. laws that protect water quality and establish standards for state agencies to follow in this University of Missouri Extension guide.
Use this budget to plan how to produce, finance, graze and market fescue on Missouri farms. It links to the Missouri Forage Budget Generator spreadsheet.
Learn how to make and maintain field borders to reduce soil erosion from wind and water, protect soil and water quality and provide wildlife and pollinator habitat.
Use a gradual process to transition farm management responsibilities from one generation to the next to improve the odds of keeping your farm in the family. This 5- phase process asks multiple generations to set goals, timelines and evaluation milestones.
Learn about the basics of flexible cash leases and how to apply the principle to crop land in Missouri. Tips are provided to enhance the success rates of flexible cash lease agreements.
Grant programs allow agricultural businesses and farmers to seek funding that supports business development and may complement other business financing.
Find government and private funding programs to finance practices such as alley cropping, windbreaks, riparian buffers, silvopasture and forest farming.
Use this crop enterprise budget as a guide to estimate your production costs and returns when growing sorghum in Missouri.
Learn about capital investments, production budgets, inputs and net returns for startup Missouri aquaculture operations using pond culture or recirculating aquaculture systems.
Reference this market research information as you explore aquaculture production alternatives and develop a plan for selling food fish, bait fish, sport fish or ornamental fish.
Survey based needs assessment of Missouri aquaculture producers identifies common Missouri aquaculture species, fish and pond stocking market use, and perceptions about the future of the aquaculture industry.
Learn aquaculture production trends, demand for seafood, industry competition and feed industry trends that affect Missouri’s aquaculture industry.
Use this enterprise budget as a guide to estimate the costs and returns for growing leafy greens hydroponically.
Landowners and tenants can both benefit when their responsibilities concerning conservation practices are specified in a written land lease. Learn topics that should be discussed and understood prior to incorporating conservation practices into a written land lease. This guide also provides sample…
Hedging farm commodities in the futures market can reduce producers' price and production risk. Learn about hedging, hedging costs and when to hedge.
Learn how to create rural and urban local food systems that are profitable and sustainable, connect farms to consumers and support the community and economy.
If you're leasing property for hunting, then learn about lease arrangement options, prices or rates to charge, liability, and how to write a contract.
Use this enterprise budget to estimate costs and returns for growing lisianthus as a cut flower in Missouri.
LGM insurance helps producers manage risk by guaranteeing a minimum gross margin. Learn how it works, and see cattle, swine and dairy examples in this guide.
See how LRP insurance helps farmers manage market price volatility risk. Missouri producers may apply for feeder cattle, fed cattle, lamb and swine policies.
Learn how to place a long hedge in the futures market to reduce the price risk associated with buying an input in this guide for farmers and agribusinesses.
See examples of how to place a long hedge in the options market to lock in a price when buying an agricultural input used on your farm or agribusiness.
Sell Missouri vegetables via CSAs; U-pick sales; on-farm, roadside, farmers markets; co-ops; wholesale auctions; restaurants, institutions, supermarkets.
Learn how participation and interest are essential to agricultural cooperative members controlling the co-op and ensuring the co-op serves their interests.
Use this enterprise budget to estimate costs and returns from producing microgreens in Missouri.
With this plan, think through how to start a dairy using confinement housing: freestalls with sand bedding and tunnel ventilation to improve cow comfort and cooling.
Use these Missouri dairy plans to improve cow comfort and cooling and remove milk production barriers in 400 or 690 herd sizes.
Use this budget to estimate costs and returns for a beef cow-calf operation (50-cow herd and purchased replacements) in Missouri for fall or spring calving season.
Learn more about Missouri’s dairy industry trends concerning its dairy cow inventory, farms, production, prices, production economics and processing industry and how these affect the state’s economy.
Learn good human resource practices related to employee recruitment, hiring, onboarding, training and termination that your farm or agribusiness can use.
Farmers can use this simple Missouri farm tax recordkeeping system if they track yearly income and expenses for their agricultural operations on a cash basis.
Find farmland values for Missouri and its counties from USDA since 1959. Learn methods of estimating historical county values for years not reported.
Find what farmers and landowners need to know about fencing duties, rights and boundaries provided in Missouri's fencing law and a local option counties can adopt.
Where in Missouri you live can make a big difference on when to expect your first or last frost. See this guide for probabilities based on past years.
Learn how soil, forages and animals interact in grazing systems, and get ideas for improving pasture quality and extending the grazing season for beef or dairy.
View these plans to learn how to use labor-saving robotic milking systems and confinement housing to improve cow comfort and remove barriers for producing more milk.
Use this enterprise budget to plan how to produce, finance, graze and market fescue-clover hay on Missouri farms.
Use this enterprise budget to plan costs and returns for establishing and managing native warm-season grass forages for hay and pasture on Missouri farms.
Use this budget to estimate the costs and returns for producing, raising, home-finishing and commercially selling beef calves in Missouri. This budget includes both spring and fall calving herds.
See recommendations for applying manure on corn, soybeans or fescue. Learn how to maximize slurry manure’s value and assess its storage and application costs.
There are many different methods and materials used to construct farm fencing. Each method varies widely in cost and ease of construction. This guide focuses on some common types of fences constructed across the midwestern United States.
Protect your grazing or hay farming operation from drought risk. Get tips and examples for understanding how PRF insurance works and choosing a policy.
Learn about federal and Missouri pesticide rules, and see the steps to take to become a pesticide applicator and keep good records of when you use pesticides.
Learn how to price corn silage whether it's in the field or delivered to storage or the feed bunk, and see how drought can damage a corn silage crop.
Deciding between buying or leasing farm equipment? Learn about purchase plans, rental agreements, lease agreements, tax and financial considerations and more.
Law requires that the body of an animal be disposed within 24 hours after death. Learn how to acceptably transport and dispose of animal carcasses.
The purpose of this guide is to assist employers and employees in training for safe tractor operation. Farm employers should review this guide with anyone who operates a farm tractor.
Learn how to price a product based on your cost and profit objectives, demand and competition. See five strategies used to price value-added agricultural products.
Learn about different cover crop seeding machines and their operational features. Understand their strengths and weaknesses to reduce planting costs, the second largest expense in growing cover crops.
Learn how farms can market local food directly to consumers by building relationships with buyers, discovering customer needs, providing quality service.
Learn how to place a short hedge in the futures market to lock in a price when selling a farm product or commodity that will be delivered in the future.
Learn how to place an output (short) hedge in the options market to reduce price risk when selling a product or commodity produced by your farm or business.
Learn why business planning around marketing, assets and profitability is important for launching a successful small acreage enterprise. Be sure to envision your goals as you consider enterprises.
Learn 10 methods that can prevent or reduce damage that wildlife can cause on your property, and see the components of a wildlife damage management program.
Use this crop enterprise budget as a guide to estimate your production costs and returns when growing corn on southeast Missouri farms.
Use this crop enterprise budget as a guide to estimate your production costs and returns when growing cotton on southeast Missouri farms.
Use this crop enterprise budget as a guide to estimate your production costs and returns when growing peanuts on southeast Missouri farms.