Source: Texas A&M University-Commerce submitted to NRP
TEXAS FARM BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND BENCHMARKING EDUCATION AND OUTREACH ALLIANCE
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1023789
Grant No.
2020-38504-32408
Cumulative Award Amt.
$400,435.00
Proposal No.
2020-06880
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2020
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2022
Grant Year
2020
Program Code
[FBMB]- Farm Business Management and Benchmarking Program
Recipient Organization
Texas A&M University-Commerce
2600 S NEAL
Commerce,TX 75429-3011
Performing Department
College Agricultural Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Our project proposes an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional alliance among Texas A&M University - Commerce (A&M - Commerce), West Texas A&M University (WTAMU), and regional Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agencies. In East Texas, the project team consists of Dr. Jose A. Lopez (PD) and collaborators Dr. Rafael Bakhtavoryan, Dr. Bob Williams, Dr. Curtis Jones, Dr. Megan Owen, Ms. Sara Allen, Dr. Mario Villarino, and Mr. Stephen Gowin. In West Texas, the team consists of Dr. Lal Almas (PD), Dr. Bridget Guerrero (Co-PD), and Dr. Kunlapath Sukcharoen (Co-PD) and collaborators Dr. David Lust, Ms. DeDe Jones, and Dr. Justin Benavidez. We will address objectives (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), and (6) of the FBMB program listed under Part I, C of the RFA. The goals are to support the intellectual and collaborative efforts of regional farm institutions by supporting Texas farm management producers to solve agricultural and educational challenges. The alliance will network with educational institutions, credit institutions, cooperatives, and/or outreach programs to recruit farmers and ranchers of all size, collect information, and enter information into the farm financial database. The alliance will provide professional consulting services for farm financial management, business analysis, credit analysis, and financial benchmarking to agricultural producers, and disseminate studies from the resulting data and/or service provided to agricultural producers. This project will provide agricultural producers with benchmarking tools, strategies, and farm financial analysis and increase awareness of the National Farm Management Center and Database and relevant software (FINPACK and IFSaM).
Animal Health Component
80%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
80%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
90360303010100%
Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6030 - The farm as an enterprise;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
The "Texas Farm Business Management and Benchmarking Education and Outreach Alliance" (Alliance) is an interdisciplinary and multi-institutional collaboration that will address objectives (1) and (2) of the FBMB program listed under Part I, C of the RFA. The Alliance goals are to support the intellectual and collaborative efforts of regional farm institutions by supporting Texas farm management producers to solve agricultural and educational challenges. The Alliance will gather and enter information into the farm financial database, provide professional consulting services for farm financial management, business analysis, credit analysis, and financial benchmarking to agricultural producers, and disseminate studies from the resulting data and/or service provided to agricultural producers. In addition, the Alliance will address objectives (3), (4), (5), and 6) of the FBMB program listed under Part I, C of the RFA.The overall goal of this project is to contribute to the well-being of agricultural producers by providing them with the knowledge, skills, and tools to conduct financial benchmarking and increase their profitability and competitiveness. Specific objectives of this project are to:1. Expand the national farm financial management database FINBIN at the University of Minnesota by gathering information from agricultural producers in the state of Texas.2. Increase producers' awareness of the National Farm Management Center and Database and use of existing software like FINPACK and IFSaM.3. Establish and align standardized procedures and data collection methodologies for farm financial data, including those established by the Center for Financial Management (CFFM) at the University of Minnesota (UMN), to conduct research on costs of production, sources of income, and farm profitability.4. Develop and expand cooperation and data sharing among Extension Service agencies, credit institutions, cooperatives, and/or outreach programs for agricultural producers across the state of Texas.5. Provide training and assistance with fundamental record-keeping as well as consulting services related to farm financial statement preparation, farm financial and benchmark analysis, and the use of use of existing software like FINPACK and IFSaM to perform these services.6. Improve the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized farms and ranches by training agricultural producers on how to access and analyze high quality, uniform farm business management benchmark information and data.7. Establish relationships with the National Farm Management Benchmarking Center and expand the National Farm Management Benchmarking Database to include the state of Texas and increase awareness of, and access to, this database.8. Increase the agricultural producers' knowledge, tools, and strategies for managing their farms and ranches through periods of high risk, financial turmoil, and price volatility.
Project Methods
Both A&M - Commerce and WTAMU have good and long-standing relationships with regional Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agencies, Farm Service Agencies, credit institutions, cooperatives, and outreach programs. Our team of experts are well connected to agricultural producers and have extensive experience with outreach programs, including contact information for beginning farmers and ranchers and small, socially-disadvantaged producers. Several of them are linked to or have advisory roles with producers and agribusinesses. In addition, every year A&M-Commerce hostsan Agricultural Technology Conference for regional producers in collaboration with Crops Cereal Research Incorporated (CCRI) and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. West Texas A&M University as well as the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service hosts several field days and other producer-related events throughout the year, which provides a great avenue for outreach.The partnering universities will rely on and expand their current collaboration efforts with farm management and producers associations to recruit agricultural producers. GAs will provide ongoing support for recruiting agricultural producers, collecting information, and coordinating activities. The partnering universities will operate in their respective Texas region. A&M - Commerce will focus on counties from Northeast Texas, including Hunt, Hopkins, Franklin, Rains, and Wood counties. WTAMU will focus on counties from West Texas, including several counties in the top 26 counties of Texas. Each university will have a team of professional experts who will help with coordinating activities with Extension Service agencies, credit institutions, cooperatives, and/or outreach programs and provide advice on recruiting agricultural producers.The project directors (PDs) will make sure our efforts are aligned with the (Center for Financial Management) CFFM at University of Minnesota (UMN), especially to standardize and harmonize with forms, and to analyze farm financial information with programs like FINPACK and IFSaM in an effort to make the use of existing resources as efficient as possible. The PDs will also reach out to previous recipients from the Mid-West, including University of Minnesota, University of Missouri, University of Wisconsin, to establish relations, network, learn, and promote information sharing.Each of the partnering universities will form an advisory committee consisting of ten to twelve current agricultural input/service providers, agricultural producers, agricultural processors, and/or agricultural members. Procedures outlined by the University of Wisconsin Extension Program Evaluation publication, County Advisory Committee, will be used to organize and evaluate the effectiveness of the advisory committees. Committee members and other stakeholders including but not limited to USDA employees, extension staff and volunteers, and agricultural lenders will be provided with statistics related to producer involvement in the project activities. The advisory committee will assist the project staff in identifying specific activities to accomplishing the project goal and objectives.Effectiveness of the overall project and individual activities in providing the anticipated outcomes will be evaluated using formative and summative techniques. The project advisory committees will provide initial guidance as well as contribute to the formative evaluation process. Building Capacity and Evaluating Outcomes, available from the Program Development and Evaluation Section of the University of Wisconsin-Extension, will serve as the primary guide for evaluation. Data will be collected and analyzed in an ongoing process for evaluation purposes and included in an annual report for the advisory committee and granting agency. The PDs at each of the partnering universities will write a project summative report at the end of the project. GAs will be assigned to assist with the project evaluation data collection, analysis, and reporting.The project activities will go through an ongoing evaluation and adjusting process with the purpose of achieving the goals and objectives of this project.

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience: The West Texas team contacted many producers/farmers from Texas Panhandle region, including producers with previous connections with District 1 Texas A&M AgriLife Extension economists in Amarillo, TX. Dr. Justin Benavidez, Assistant Professor and Extension Management Economist, and DeDe Jones, Risk Management Specialist, who both work with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service worked with agricultural producers to provide education and decision support for their operations. They met individually with producers to gather the necessary data to evaluate financial measures including revenue, costs, profitability, and return on investment for several different crops and livestock produced in the Texas Panhandle. This data was the means to benchmark actual producer data for the region. In addition, producers received farm projections and individualized education about how to increase the profitability of their operations. In East Texas, we collaborated with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Collin, Hopkins, Hunt, and Rains counties; and the Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO), which is a group of independent cow/calf producers and agribusiness representatives. The East Texas team at Texas A&M University-Commerce contacted many individual producers/families in the region. These include producers from the cities of Archer City, Arlington, Avery, Bogata, Cameron, Charlie, Cooper, Crawford, Gatesville, Dallas, Lorena, Mound, Mt. Pleasant, Sulphur Springs, Sunset, and Windthorst to name some. We have also contacted several farmers and ranchers who had participated in similar outreach projects at A&M-Commerce in the past; as well as many producers who expressed interest in participating in the project from NETBIO. We presented at and/or attended several AgriLife events and producers meetings, including Collin County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Hunt County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Natural Conservation Service (NRCS), and NETBIO. We also presented at several producer pedagogical conferences including the 2022 Southern Family Farmers and Food Systems Conference, 2022 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Conference, 2022 Agricultural Consortium of Texas (ACT), 2022 Northeast Texas Cattlemen's Conference, and the 2021 Ag Technology Conference. Changes/Problems: One of the major obstacles was the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing made it harder to connect with agricultural producers and therefore collect their financial information for participation in the National Farm Management Benchmarking Database. Despite it was hardto recruit graduate students to work for the project during the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas A&M University-Commerce successfully recruited and graduated three graduate assistants (GA) who provided ongoing support during the duration ofthe project. West Texas A&M University had several personnel changes that prevented the project from being completed fully relative to what was initially intended. Dr. Kunlapath Sukcharoen, initial Co-PI from West Texas A&M, left the university and McKinzie Crain, a graduate student initially hired to work on the project, quit graduate school to get married. To replace her, Georgie Lage was hired who worked on the project for the remainder of the period. The personnel changes made it difficult to complete the project goals as initially outlined. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? All faculty Jose Lopez, Lal Almas, Bridget Guerrero, and Kunlapath Sukcharoen completed FINPACK Trainings for Benchmarking as well as attended the 2020 Benchmark Leaders Annual Meeting held on Nov 18-19, 2020. We attended and completed FINPACK Training for Educators in August 2021 and again in December 2021. Similar training activities were also provided to all graduate students recruited to work on this project. The graduate students on the project were given guidance on the FINPACK software by the faculty, but also in general for understanding producer financial data and measures so that they were able to complete the tasks of correctly inputting producer's financial data in the FINBIN database at the Center of Farm Financial Management, University of Minnesota. The trainings attended helped increase understanding of the software's capabilities and how to conduct financial analyses and comparisons for producers. In addition, the graduate student(s) were trained in communicating and working with other entities, such as the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, in order to complete the project tasks. We also held many information sessions about the project, where agricultural producers learned about the project and what it could do for them. One information session at the Hopkins County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Office on Sep. 25, 2020. Another information session at the Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO) Anniversary Sale and Annual Meeting at Sulphur Springs Livestock on November 18, 2020. We have also visited in person with the manager and assistant manager of the Aquaponics System at Dallas International University on October 30, 2020 who were interested in learning about the project and what it could do for them. Deliver presentations (April 30, 2021; May 28, 2021, and May 20, 2022) about the project at events hosted by Collin County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, and Hunt County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and the Natural Conservation Service (NRCS). Visited with NETBIO Board to recruit and discuss strategies to increase participation in the project on March 26, 2021 and June 25,2021. Set up information displays at events hosted by Collin County and Hopkins County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Offices on June 25, 2021; July 23, 2021; August 27, 2021; October 1, 2021; October 2, 2021; November 4, 2021; June 17, 2022; and July 15, 2022. We also presented at several producer pedagogical conferences including the 2022 Southern Family Farmers and Food Systems Conference, 2022 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Conference, 2022 Agricultural Consortium of Texas (ACT), 2022 Northeast Texas Cattlemen's Conference, and the 2021 Ag Technology Conference. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In East Texas, the team conducted several activities to reach members of the communities. We announced the project in the Texas A&M University - Commerce website and the college newsletter that was sent out to all alumni and supporters of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. We reached out to Texas A&M AgriLife Exentsion Service in Collin, Hopkins, Hunt, and Rains counties. We reached out to Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO). We held several information sessions about the project, where agricultural producers learned about the project and what it could do for them. In West Texas, the team collaborated with Potter County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and announced the project through their weekly newsletter that was sent out to alumni, industry, and supporters of the department of Agricultural Sciences at West Texas A&M University called Buff Brief. Several colleagues asked about the project and its impact. In addition, a final poster will be either presented at the Benchmark Leaders Meeting in 2022 OR at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association annual meeting to be held in February 5-7, 2023. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Texas is a top producer of agricultural commodities in the United States. As population trends continue to increase, producer profitability is of upmost importance so that they may remain economically viable to feed the nation and world. Project leaders realized that producers and supporting institutions needed a means to track, report, and analyze farm financial information in a simpler, faster, and more reliable manner. In addition, there was a lack of comparison farm data in order for these entities to see how they were performing relative to others in their state or other states across the nation. We increased awareness of the National Farm Management Center and Database and the FINPACK software. We have been collaborating with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Hopkins, Potter, and Rains Counties; and with Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO). We kept in communication with National Farm Management Benchmarking Center and receiving FINPACK trainings. The East Texas team coordinated with project partners at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Collin, Hopkins, Hunt, and Rains counties. In the process of providing financial assistance to interested producers we collected financial information from 2 feeder cattle operations and 1 institution. The West Texas team coordinated with project partners at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Amarillo, Texas in order to educate and guide producers on their financial health and ways they can improve their operation. In the process, data was obtained for benchmarking purposes. While economists at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service work with multiple producers in a year, approximately 30 producers specifically work with the FARM Assistance Program. Out of these producers, data from 11 were chosen for input into the benchmarking database that had participated with the program repeatedly in order to provide consistent, ongoing information. Thus, producers were educated directly and benchmarking data made available for producer in the Texas Panhandle region for others to use for comparison purposes. In addition, faculty and graduate students at West Texas A&M University received valuable training and were able to connect and increase collaboration efforts with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service partners as a result of this project. 1. Expand the national farm financial management database FINBIN at the University of Minnesota by gathering information from agricultural producers in the state of Texas. Several producers/farmers were contacted from Northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle region to collect financial data of their farms/businesses. In East Texas, data for 2 producers and 1 institution was organized, formatted, and input into FINPACK. In West Texas, data for 11 producers was organized, formatted, and input into the Farm Financial Management Database FINBIN. Three year ending balance sheets were obtained for each producer for December 31 for 2019, 2020, and 2021. Thus, 33 total files were entered into the FINPACK software. These activities helped producers understand their individual financial data and also created benchmarking data for comparison farms in the national database. 2. Increase producers' awareness of the National Farm Management Center and Database and use of existing software like FINPACK and IFSaM. Awareness for the National Farm Management Center and Database as well as the FINPACK software was created through this project. Faculty members on this project at both Texas A&M University - Commerce and West Texas A&M University work with hundreds of students each semester and many of them will have the need to use a software to track financial data and/or use comparison farm information in their career. In addition, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension partners work with numerous producers each year and can promote these as tools for producers to use in their operations. 3. Establish and align standardized procedures and data collection methodologies for farm financial data, including those established by the Center for Financial Management (CFFM) at the University of Minnesota (UMN), to conduct research on costs of production, sources of income, and farm profitability. Collaboration with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service through this project created a means to reduce the burden of asking producers for information by using existing channels to work with producers and obtain benchmarking data. In addition, a consistent method of understanding and transferring data from one database to another was created in the process. 4. Develop and expand cooperation and data sharing among Extension Service agencies, credit institutions, cooperatives, and/or outreach programs for agricultural producers across the state of Texas. Collaboration with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service was expanded through this project. While faculty and Extension personnel had worked together previously, new avenues were formed and new ideas were formulated to expand help for producers in the future. 5. Provide training and assistance with fundamental record-keeping as well as consulting services related to farm financial statement preparation, farm financial and benchmark analysis, and the use of use of existing software like FINPACK and IFSaM to perform these services. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service provides assistance for producer in terms of consulting for farm financial status and projections over time. This project served to expand this knowledge in terms of the benchmarking data availability from the national database. 6. Improve the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized farms and ranches by training agricultural producers on how to access and analyze high quality, uniform farm business management benchmark information and data. The establishment of an initial benchmarking database for Texas will help increase competitiveness of small and medium-sized farms as they will be able to compare their own financial measures to that of the comparison farms included in the national database. 7. Establish relationships with the National Farm Management Benchmarking Center and expand the National Farm Management Benchmarking Database to include the state of Texas and increase awareness of, and access to, this database. Prior to this project, faculty at Texas A&M University-Commerce, West Texas A&M University, and some personnel at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension service were unaware of the National Farm Management Benchmarking Center and Database. This project expanded knowledge of these to faculty, Extension personnel, graduate students, and producers. They can now access this useful data in teaching classes or mentoring producers and future agriculturalists. 8. Increase the agricultural producers' knowledge, tools, and strategies for managing their farms and ranches through periods of high risk, financial turmoil, and price volatility. Risk in agriculture makes it hard for producers to know how they are performing from year to year. Establishing a national database can help them know how they are doing relative to other farmers who are experiencing the same volatility rather than comparing to good/bad production and market years.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Flowers, H., J.A. Lopez, and D. Drake. 2022. An agronomic and Economic Analysis of Annual Ryegrass Management Practices in North-Texas Soybean Production. Paper submitted for presentation at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, February 5-7, 2023. Under Review.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Under Review Year Published: 2023 Citation: Smith, K., and J.A. Lopez. 2022. Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Feeder Cattle Prices in Northeast Texas. Paper submitted for presentation at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, February 5-7, 2023. Under Review.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Flowers, H., J.A. Lopez, and D. Drake. 2022. An agronomic and Economic Analysis of Annual Ryegrass Management Practices in North-Texas Soybean Production. Crop and Environment. Under Review.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Smith, K., and J.A. Lopez. 2022. Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Feeder Cattle Prices in Northeast Texas. Texas Journal of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Under Review.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Kacou, Y. The Implementation of a Financial Software into an Educational Farm. M.S. Thesis, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas A&M University-Commerce. August 2022.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Flowers, H. An Economic Analysis of Annual Ryegrass Management Practices in Soybean Production. M.S. Thesis, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas A&M University-Commerce. August 2022.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Smith, K. Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Feeder Cattle Prices in Northeast Texas. M.S. Thesis, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas A&M University-Commerce. August 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Smith, K, J.A. Lopez, R. Williams, and R. Bakhtavoryan. Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Feeder Cattle Prices in Northeast Texas. Oral presentation at the 2022 Southern Family Farmers and Food Systems Conference in Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, August 7-9, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lopez, J.A. Farm Business Management and Benchmarking: Learning Experiences. Poster presented at the 2022 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Conference, Wooster, OH, June 20-24, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Flowers, H., D. Drake, and J.A. Lopez. Volunteer Annual Ryegrass as Forage and Cover Crop. Poster presented at the Agricultural Consortium of Texas (ACT) Annual Meeting on April 14, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Smith, K., and J.A. Lopez. Assessing the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Feeder Cattle Prices on Northeast Texas. Poster presented at the Agricultural Consortium of Texas (ACT) Annual Meeting on April 14, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Kacou, Y. and J.A. Lopez. The Implementation of a Financial Software into an Educational Farm. Poster presented at the Agricultural Consortium of Texas (ACT) Annual Meeting on April 14, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Flowers, H., D. Drake, and J.A. Lopez. Volunteer Annual Ryegrass as Forage and Cover Crop. Poster presented at the 17th Pathways Student Research Symposium at Texas A&M University-College Station on March 3-4, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Smith, K., and J.A. Lopez. Assessing the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Feeder Cattle Prices on Northeast Texas. Poster presented at the 17th Pathways Student Research Symposium at Texas A&M University-College Station on March 3-4, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Smith, K., and J.A. Lopez. Federal Financial Benchmarking: Outreaching and Recruiting Agricultural Producers through Professionally Networking. Poster presented at the Southern Rural Sociological Association (SRSA) Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, February 13-14, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lopez, J.A., K. Smith, H. Flowers, and Y. Kacou. Farm Business Management and Benchmarking in Time of COVID-19. Poster presented at the Southern Rural Sociological Association (SRSA) Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, February 13-14, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Flower, H., and J.A. Lopez. Federal Financial Benchmarking: Outreaching and Recruiting Agricultural Producers Online. Poster presented at the Southern Rural Sociological Association (SRSA) Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, February 13-14, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lopez, J, B. Williams, and M. Villarino. Texas Farm Business Management and Benchmarking Education and Outreach Alliance. Poster presented at the Southern Region Conference of the American Association for Agricultural Education (SR-AAEA), Irving, TX, February 6- 9, 2021. Virtual Meeting.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Flowers, H. and J.A. Lopez. Outreaching and Recruiting Agricultural Producers Online Poster presented at the Federation Research Symposium, Denton, TX, April 9, 2021. Virtual Meeting.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Lopez, J.A. Farm Business Management. Oral presentation at session 2 Planning Your Ag Business of the 2022 Landowner 101 Educational Workshop Series hosted by Collin County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension at the Myers Park & Event Center, 7117 County Rd 166 McKinney, Texas 75071, May 20, 2022.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lopez, J.A. Farm Business Management & Benchmarking Project at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Oral presentation at the Vegetable Production & Marketing Utilizing High Tunnels/Greenhouses educational program hosted by Hunt County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and the Natural Conservation Service (NRCS) at the Heritage Garden of Hunt County, Outdoor Learning Center, 2311 Washington Street, Greenville, TX 75401, April 30, 2021.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lopez, J.A. Farm Business Financial Planning Assistance. Oral presentation at session 2 Planning Your Ag Business of the 2021 Landowner 101 Workshop Series hosted by Collin County, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension at the Myers Park & Event Center, 7117 County Rd 166 McKinney, Texas 75071, May 28, 2021.


Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience: The West Texas team has been contacting many producers/farmers from Texas Panhandle region to collect financial data of their farms/businesses. Data is being organized, formatted and prepared in the form to be entered in the Farm Financial Management Database FINBIN. In East Texas, we have been in communication with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Hopkins County, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Rains county, and the Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO), which is a group of independent cow/calf producers and agribusiness representatives. The East Texas team at Texas A&M University-Commerce has contacted many individual producers/families in the region. These include producers from the cities of Archer City, Arlington, Avery, Bogata, Cameron, Charlie, Cooper, Crawford, Gatesville, Dallas, Lorena, Mound, Mt. Pleasant, Sulphur Springs, Sunset, and Windthorst to name some. We have also contacted several farmers and ranchers who have participated in similar outreach projects at A&M-Commerce; and many producers who expressed interest in participating in the project from NETBIO. We have also presented and attended several AgriLife events and producers meetings, including Collin County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Hunt County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Natural Conservation Service (NRCS), and NETBIO. Changes/Problems: One of the major obstacles is the COVID-19 pandemic. Some agricultural producers seem to be socially distancing and limiting their communication to emails and phone calls. Social distancing makes it harder to establish good relationships with agricultural producers and therefore collect their financial information and have them participate in the National Farm Management Benchmarking Database. The COVID-19 pandemic, to some extent, also made it harder for A&M-Commerce to recruit graduate students to work for the project during the Fall 2020 semester. However, starting the Spring 2021 semester, the East Texas team counts with 3 graduate assistants for the remaining 1.5 years of the project. The graduate assistants will definitely facilitate reaching out and recruiting interested agricultural producers. We expect to be able to reach and service many more agricultural producers as more people gets vaccinated for COVID-19. One of the team members in the West Texas team, Dr. Kunlapath Sukcharoen, left the university and will not continue working on the project. However, Drs. Almas and Guerrero will take care of her part. Our graduate student, McKinzie Crain, quit graduate school, got married and moved to Colorado. To replace her, we have hired a new graduate student, Georgie Lage, who will work on this project for the remainder of the period. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? All faculty Jose Lopez, Lal Almas, Bridget Guerrero, and Kunlapath Sukcharoen, have completed FINPACK Trainings and attended the 2020 Benchmark Leaders Annual Meeting held on Nov 18-19, 2020. Similar training activities will also be provided to all graduate students recruited to work on this project in the near future. In West Texas, Drs. Almas and Guerrero attended and completed FINPACK Training for Educators in August 2021. They will help to train their graduate student so that she is able to complete the tasks of putting producer's financial data in the FINBIN database at the Center of Farm Financial Management, University of Minnesota. Drs. Almas and Guerrero will attend the training again in December 2021. The trainings attended have helped increase understanding of the software's capabilities and how to conduct financial analyses and comparisons for producers. In East Texas, we have also held many information sessions about the project, where agricultural producers had the opportunity to learn about the project and what it can do for them. One information session at the Hopkins County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Office on Sep. 25, 2020. Another information session at the Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO) Anniversary Sale and Annual Meeting at Sulphur Springs Livestock on November 18, 2020. We have also visited in person with the manager and assistant manager of the Aquaponics System at Dallas International University on October 30, 2020 who were interested in learning about the project and what it can do for them. Deliver two presentations about the project at events hosted by Collin County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, and Hunt County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and the Natural Conservation Service (NRCS). Visited with NETBIO Board to recruit and discuss strategies to increase participation in the project on March 26, 2021 and June 25,2021. Set up information displays at events hosted by Collin County and Hopkins County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Offices on June 25, July 23, August 27, October 1, October 2, and November 4, 2021. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In East Texas, the team has conducted several activities to reach members of the communities. We announced the project in the Texas A&M University - Commerce website. We announced the project in the October newsletter of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at A&M-Commerce that was sent out to all alumni. We have reached out to Texas A&M AgriLife Exentsion Service in Hopkins, Hunt, and Rains counties. We have reached out to Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO). We have held two information sessions about the project, where agricultural producers had the opportunity to learn about the project and what it can do for them. One information session at the Hopkins County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Office on Sep. 25, 2020, and the other information session at the Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO) Anniversary Sale and Annual Meeting at Sulphur Springs Livestock on November 18, 2020. In West Texas, the team has completed a collaborative agreement with Potter County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. The West Texas team has been collaborating with Potter County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and is in the progress of identifying and developing an advisory group of area farmers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We have received FINPACK training, recruited graduate students to work for the project, collaborated with AgriLife Extension Service and NETBIO, and contacted several agricultural producers (crops, dairies, cow/calf, greenhouses). For the next reporting period, the East Texas team will reach out to farm institutions such as FSA to provide assistance to agricultural producers. Some farm institutions such as FSA require farmers to go through financial training before they can apply for loans and/or as a part of the application process. After attending the FMBM Project Leaders Meeting on November 18, 2020; we learned that we need to make sure we also collaborate with Farm Service Agencies (FSA) and credit institutions. There have been successful stories where other FMBM grant recipients have collaborated with FSA and credit institutions to provide trainings for them and have been able recruit groups of agricultural producers rather than visiting with them one at a time. At A&M-Commerce, we have three graduate assistant (GA) providing ongoing support for the recruitment of agricultural producers. For the next reporting period, to expand the national farm financial management database FINBIN, the West Texas team plans to continue collaborating with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Amarillo, and agricultural producers across West Texas to gather information in order to build a better database for this region. During the data collection process, the West Texas team also plans to increase producers' awareness of the National Farm Management Center and Database and how to use a software like FINPACK to improve the competitiveness of small- and medium-sized farms and ranches. To establish and align standardized procedures and data collection methodologies for farm financial data, the West Texas team plans to connect with the Center for Financial Management at the University of Minnesota as well as our partner, Texas A&M University - Commerce, and write a manual on data collection methodologies. This documentation will help ensure that the procedures are standardized. The new graduate student recruited for this project will be trained to use the software and asked to develop training materials that can be used to train interested agricultural producers. This will help provide training and assistance with fundamental record-keeping as well as consulting services related to the use of FINPACK software to agricultural producers in the region.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have been increasing awareness of the National Farm Management Center and Database and the FINPACK software. We have been collaborating with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Hopkins, Potter, and Rains Counties; and with Northeast Texas Beef Improvement Organization (NETBIO). We have been in communication with National Farm Management Benchmarking Center and receiving FINPACK trainings. In East Texas, we have been providing assistance to interested producers. We have collected financial information on two feeder cattle operations. We have another 10 feeder cattle producers who said they will participate and provide their financial information; but they seem to have changed their minds and we haven't been able to set up appointments yet, we will keep trying. The West Texas team has coordinated with their project partners at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Amarillo, TX for data collection. Financial and Business Data of 26 Producers/Farmers have been collected and is currently being organized for input into the FINPACK software. It is expected that at least 13 of these producers will be able to provide information again for the second year of data collection. We do not yet have any summary statistics. We have pulled information from two very different producer files from Texas A&M AgriLife to test it in the FINPACK software and will input the information to see how transferrable the data is. The key outcome at this point in the project is increased information about the FINPACK software and increased collaboration with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lopez, J, B. Williams, and M. Villarino. Texas Farm Business Management and Benchmarking Education and Outreach Alliance. Poster presented at the Southern Region Conference of the American Association for Agricultural Education, Irving, TX, February 6- 9, 2021. Virtual Meeting.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Flowers, H. and J.A. Lopez. Outreaching and Recruiting Agricultural Producers Online Poster presented at the Federation Research Symposium, TX, April 9, 2021. Virtual Meeting.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lopez, J.A. Farm Business Management & Benchmarking Project at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Oral presentation at the Vegetable Production & Marketing Utilizing High Tunnels/Greenhouses educational program hosted by Hunt County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and the Natural Conservation Service (NRCS) at the Heritage Garden of Hunt County, Outdoor Learning Center, 2311 Washington Street, Greenville, TX 75401, April 30, 2021.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lopez, J.A. Farm Business Financial Planning Assistance. Oral presentation at session 2 Planning Your Ag Business of the 2021 Landowner 101 Workshop Series hosted by Collin County, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension at the Myers Park & Event Center, 7117 County Rd 166 McKinney, Texas 75071, May 28, 2021.