Education Needs and Delivery Preferences of MN FBM Producers

Comparison of the Farm Business
Management Education Needs of Students
Enrolled in the Minnesota FBM Program 1
June 2013
Richard Joerger, Ron Dvergsten, Mauvalyn Bowen, Jason Jaber,
Randi Nelson, Deanna Allen, and Marnie Werner
1
Source: Joerger, R. M., Bowen, M., Jaber, J., Werner, M., & Nelson, R. K. (June, 2012). Educational interests, needs, and instructional preferences of
producers enrolled in the Minnesota Farm Business Management Education Program. Academic and Student Affairs, Minnesota State Colleges and
Universities, St. Paul: MN.

Acknowledgements
• Minnesota Producers
• USDA Benchmarking Project
• Minnesota State Colleges and Universities
• Leadership Council for Management Education
• Minnesota FBM Instructors
• Minnesota Center for Rural Policy and Development
• Research Team

Topics
• Background
• Purpose and Objectives
• Procedures
• Findings
• Conclusions and Recommendations

Background
• The FBM Education Program has invested nearly 60 years in
delivering business management education
• Developed a curriculum in 2008-2009 using producer input to meet
current producer educational needs
• The 2010 Minnesota FBM Education Task Force explored strategies
to increase producer access to educationally sound and fiscally
efficient FBM programming
Recommended program leaders investigate the delivery and business
management education preferences of Minnesota producers.
• 2011 – Study of Business and Production Management Education Needs and
Instructional Preferences of FBM Students and MN Producers.
Technical Reports located at www.fbm.mnscu.edu

Purpose and Objectives
• Purpose: determine the business management education
needs of producers enrolled in the Minnesota Farm
Business Management Education program.
• Objective: to describe the needs, interests, and
preferences of producers regarding:
Farm business management education need based upon:
Type of farms
Annual gross sales
Education for employees of producers

Procedures
• Descriptive survey design
• Population - 2,850, Sample – 585, Usable - 404
• Instrument: developed by the research team
Likert-type items
Open-ended questions
Pilot test
• Administered: hard copy and online
• Data Analysis: Excel and SPSS

Findings
• Participant Characteristics
• Business Management Education
Type of Farm
Gross Sales Income Levels
• Employee Training

Selected Demographic Information
N=404
Characteristics N %
Age in Years (M/SD) 46.9/12.3
Gender - Male 387 95.8
Highest level of education completed
High School Graduate 103 25.5
One-Year College Degree 51 12.6
Two-Year College Degree 145 35.9
Bachelor’s Degree 70 17.3
Graduate Degree 4 1.0
Work Part-Time Off the Farm 99 24.5

Farm Business Characteristics of FBM
Minnesota Producers
Form of Farm Business
Business Characteristics N %
Sole Proprietorship 304 75.2
Corporation 44 10.9
Legal Partnership 41 10.1
Years Involved in Ownership in Farming
M/SD 24.1 12.1
Average Annual Farm Sales
$100,000-$249,999 73 18.1
$250,000-$499,999 117 29.0
$500,000-$999,999 105 26.0
$1,000,000-$2,499,999 60 14.9
>$2,500,000 9 2.2

Farm Business Management Education
Interests and Needs
• Foundational – learning or re-learning
introductory concepts and skills
• Advanced - learning intermediate or advanced
concepts and skills

Foundational Business Management Education
Topics Desired by FBM Producers (N=404)
% Interest Rank
Estate planning options 42.9 1
Retirement plans’ impact on tax liability 42.1 2
Risk management strategies 41.4 3
Establishing goals 41.0 4
New technologies 38.9 5
Tax management strategies 1 38.8 6
Farm community organization benefits 38.1 7
Marketing plan 37.2 8
Commodity markets 35.2 9
Business transition options 35.2 9
1
Foundational and Advanced

Advanced Business Management Education
Topics Desired by FBM Producers (N=404)
% Interest Rank
Complete a farm business analysis 66.8 1
Business analysis for decision making 65.0 2
Budgets and break-even analyses 64.9 3
Enterprise budgets & cash flow 63.8 4
Capital and credit needs 63.4 5
Financial statements to secure capital 62.4 6
Financing capital assets 59.5 7
Recordkeeping system 58.9 8
Tax management strategies 1 55.3 9
Creating a business plan 52.5 10
1
Foundational and Advanced

Foundational Business Management Education
Needs by Farm Type
Education Topics
Crops 1
(N= 218)
Livestock 1
(N= 74)
Crops &
Livestock 1
(N= 99)
Rank Rank Rank
Estate planning options 1 2 1
Retirement plans on tax liability 2 3 3
Establishing goals 3 7 6
Tax management strategies 4 8
New technologies 5 9 9
Risk management assessment 6 1 2
Farm & community organization benefits 7 5 5
Recordkeeping system 8
Marketing plan 9 7
1
Note: Crops -33.5-40.4% of producers; Livestock - 43.2 - 54.1%; Crops and Livestock – 36.4 - 41.4%

Advanced Business Management Education
Needs by Farm Type
Crops 1
(N= 218)
Livestock 1
(N= 74)
Crops &
Livestock 1
(N= 99)
Education Topics Rank Rank Rank
Budgets, break-even calculations 1 4 1
Annual business analysis 1 1 4
Business analysis 3 2 1
Capital and credit needs 4 5 4
Financial statements to secure capital 4 6 6
Enterprise budgets- cash flow 6 3 1
Financing capital assets 7 8 7
Recordkeeping system 8 6 8
Create a business plan 8 12 11
Commodity markets 8 15 11
1
Note: Crops – 50 – 62.8% of FBM Producers, Livestock 43.2 – 71.7%, Crops and Livestock – 50.5 – 70.7%

Foundational Farm Business Management Education
Needs of Minnesota Producers By Gross Sales
$250-$499.99K
(n= 117)
$500 – $999.9K
(n= 105)
$1M – 2.49M
(n= 60)
>2.5M
(n= 9)
Estate planning options 52.1 39.0 25.0 33.3
Retirement plans on tax liability 49.6 47.6 30.0 22.2
Risk management assessment 48.7 35.2 23.3 33.3
Tax management strategies 46.2 35.2 21.7 44.4
Establishing goals 44.4 39.0 30.0 22.2
New Technologies 44.4 41.0 18.3 33.3
Farm, community organization benefits 42.7 41.0 36.7 22.2
Create a business plan 42.7 36.2 18.3 22.2
Marketing plan 41.0 33.3 25.0 55.6
Communication Skills 41.0 33.3 25.0 33.3
Commodity markets 39.3 32.4 25.0 33.3
Business transition options 36.8 33.3 23.3 22.2
Personal leadership benefits 35.9 33.3 26.7 22.2
Recordkeeping system 32.5 30.5 25.0 55.6
Business structure 32.5 31.4 21.7 33.3
1 Note
-
Percentage of producers in the category

Advanced Farm Business Management Education
Needs of Minnesota Producers By Gross Sales
$250-$499.99K
(n= 117)
$500 –
$999.9K
(n= 105)
$1M –
2.49M
(n= 60)
>2.5M
(n= 9)
Business Management Topics
Budgets, breakeven calculations 66.7 1 62.9 1 70.0 1 88.9 1
Annual business analysis 66.7 68.6 66.7 88.9
Enterprise budgets- cash flow 65.8 61.9 63.3 100.0
Business analysis 65.0 64.8 71.7 77.8
Financial statements to secure capital 64.1 56.2 73.3 88.9
Capital and credit needs 62.4 57.1 75.0 100.0
Recordkeeping system 58.1 59.0 63.3 44.4
Financing capital assets 55.6 56.2 75.0 88.9
Tax management strategies 49.6 54.3 66.7 44.4
Create a business plan 45.3 50.5 68.3 77.8
New Technologies 44.4 50.5 71.7 55.6
Commodity markets 43.6 50.5 66.7 66.7
Marketing plan 42.7 50.5 63.3 33.3
1 Note
-
Percentage of Producers in the category

Farm Business Management Education
“Hot Topics” By Farm Type
Hot Topics
Total
Rank
Crops
Rank
Livestock
Rank
Crop and
Livestock
Rank
Creating a marketing plan 1 1 5 3
Exploring estate planning options 2 2 2 1
Comprehensive recordkeeping
system
3 3 1
Creating a farm business plan 4 4 4 3
Using the annual farm business
analysis reports to make decisions
5 5 2 5
Employment Practices 5 9

Education for Employees by Farm Type
Employee Training Categories
N
Crop
(n=218)
Crop and
Livestock
(n=99)
Livestock
(n=74)
Employability Skills & Knowledge 74 1 32 22 20
Safety, Communication, Attention to detail, Workplace
behaviors, punctuality, Other (bilingual language,
cleanliness, attitude, motivation, time management,
workplace scheduling, proper behaviors, hiring the best)
Mechanics Skills & Knowledge 18 8 7 3
Equipment maintenance, standard operating procedure,
license CDLs, equipment maintenance
Livestock Care and Knowledge 9 0 3 6
Livestock handling, animal husbandry, herd health,
livestock handling
Business Knowledge & Skills 4 4 0 0
Develop a business plan, financial management
marketing, recordkeeping – Quickbooks
1
Note: number of producers who indicated a need.

Conclusions
• There is need for specific topics of foundational and advanced
farm business education programming for producers with
different types of farms and levels of annual gross sales.
• There is need for specific topics of education for the
employees of Minnesota producers enrolled in the FBM
program.
• There is an implied desire to have FBM instructors provide the
instruction, thus warranting an organized approach to
instruction. (Findings from the study indicate the FBM
instructor is the initial vendor used by producers.)

Recommendations
• Producers enrolled in the Minnesota FBM Program be
provided with quality business management education based
upon their documented interests.
• The Minnesota FBM Program provide education for
employees of producers.
• Program leaders provide professional development and other
resources needed by the instructors to effectively teach
producers.

Bibliography
Baharanyi, N. and R. Zabawa. 1996. “The Small Farmer and Social Issues.” Proceedings of the 1996 Small Farms Conference. Nashville, TN.
Franz, N., et. al. (2010). How Farmers Learn: Implication for Agricultural Educators. Journal of Rural Social Sciences, 25(1), 2010, pp. 37–59.
Gaul, S., Hochmuth, R.C., Israel, G.D., & Tredewell, D. (2009). Characteristics of small farm operators in Florida: Economics, demographics, and
preferred information channels and sources. (WCO88). Gainesville: Department of Agricultural Education and Communication, Florida
Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Retrieved on March 15, 2011, from
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/wc088.
Israel, G.D. & Wilson, K.M. (2006). Sources and channels of information used by educational program clients. Journal of Applied Communications 90(4):
55–78. Retrieved on March 31, 2011, from http://www.aceweb.org/archsite/JAC/pdf/JAC_pdfs/JAC9004/JAC9004_RS03.pdf.
Joerger, R. M., Bowen, M., Jaber, J., Werner, M., & Nelson, R. K. (June, 2012). Educational interests, needs, and instructional preferences of
producers enrolled in the Minnesota Farm Business Management Education Program. Academic and Student Affairs, Minnesota State
Colleges and Universities, St. Paul: MN.
Joerger, R. M., Ipe, M., & Persons, E. (2000). An investigation of the nature, effectiveness, and impact of the Minnesota farm business management
education program: The final report. College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences, University of MN: St. Paul.
Joerger, R.M., Nelson, R. K., Werner, M., Jaber, J., & Bowen, M. (June, 2012). Business and production management education interests, needs, and
learning preferences of Minnesota farmers. Academic and Student Affairs, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, St. Paul, MN.
Minniti, M. (with Bygrave, W.D., &Autio, E). (2005). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2005 Executive Report. Babson College, MA: USA, p.24.
Senf, D., Maki, W., & Houck, J. P. (2008).The Economic Importance of Minnesota’s Food and Agriculture Industry. St. Paul, MN: Department of
Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Minnesota.
Tubene, S. and J. Hanson. 2002. “The Wholesale Produce Auction: An Alternative Marketing Strategy for Small Farms.” American Journal of Alternative
Agriculture 17(1):18–23.
United States Department of Agriculture.(1996). Food consumption, prices, and expenditures, 1996.Economic Research Service.SB 928.
Vergot, P., Israel, G.D., & Mayo, D.E. (2005). Sources and channels of information used by beef cattle producers in twelve counties of the Northwest
Florida extension district. Journal of Extension 43(2). Retrieved on March 19, 2012 from http://www.joe.org/joe/2005april/rb6.php.
______, Minnesota Farm Business Management Education. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, http://fbm.mnscu.edu/annualreports/index.htm
______, FBM CurriculumBank, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, http://mnfbm.curriculumbank.org/
l

Questions and Discussion
• Does updated curricula and instruction really make a difference?
• What are the key barriers that limit producers from adopting
instruction using the internet?
• How do educators use this information when delivering
instruction to producers?
• How do we get access to the technical reports?
• What are some of the advanced topics which should used in our
instruction?
• Thank You!