This Column Was Originally Published in Prairie Farmer During the Month Indicated and Is

This column was originally published in Prairie Farmer during the month indicated and is reprinted here by permission.

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Prairie Farmer - June 2007

Host of Expert Aid at farmdoc

Garrett Stoerger

Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

With the onset of summer onlya few weeks away and your vacationplans still in limbo, youdon’t necessarily want to hear aboutthe importance of cash-flow budgeting.Equally displeasing can be thinking ofbreak-even cash rental rates for 2008.

Instead, why not take some time toread up on a few topics that face Illinoisfarmers today, and that likely pertainto you and your operation. Resourcesavailable at the University of Illinois’farmdoc Web site, located at inform and educate farmers and landowners all across thecountry.

A little history

If you are new to the farmdoc site, orhave not visited the Web site for quitesome time, let me take a moment to fillyou in on what you’ve been missing.The farmdoc (farm decision outreachcentral) Project’s goal is to improve farm-based decision-making throughresearch and education. It providesan in-depth look at agricultural informationand research findings, whichallows readers to make an informed assessment.

The Web site organizes this information into five main categories:

■ Finance

■ Marketing & Outlook

■ Management

■ Law & Taxation

■ Policy

The farmdoc team always strives tointegrate current and seasonal issuesthat affect farmers at different timesthroughout the year. For example, inFebruary and March we featured aseries of crop-insurance tools and articlesaimed to help readers make thebest crop-insurance decision based ontheir individual operation.The site also provides weekly marketingoutlook articles for crops andlivestock.

Blogs and more

Furthermore, for an updated “blog,”browse a sister site to farmdoc, thefarm gate. The farm gate blog alsoallows users to respond to each entryby posting additional viewpoints, questionsor further commentary.

Another great tool provided by thefarmdoc team is AgMAS (AgriculturalMarket Advisory Service). The AgMASProject provides an unbiased, detailedreport on various ag marketingsources.

Farmdoc also features resources onlaw and taxation — a challenging fieldfor anyone who’s less than an expert.You’ll find articles that summarize legislativechanges that affect farmers andlandowners, and answer questions surrounding everything from drainage restrictionsto USDA-compliant leases.

And of course, farmdoc’s FAST Toolsare located on the Web site, as coveredin this column every month. FAST consistsof more than 40 spreadsheet toolsthat cover specific areas of management and finance. Best of all, you candownload every spreadsheet tool freeof charge.

If you are still unsure about whatfarmdoc offers, make your way to theWeb site and browse around yourself.The site features a user-friendly menu,links to the latest articles and researchfindings, spotlights on commonlysearched topics, and marketing and weather summaries on the home page.

Stoerger is the FAST Coordinator with University of Illinois Extension.