Monday, December 20, 2010

The (Accounting) Golden Rule

What do you think about this approach to synchronizing accounting and production data? Does it make a difference if dollar values don't tie out? How much work and effort would you save if everything was all in one spot?

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

(How) Do You Manage Margins?

The traditional marketing objective in agriculture is to maximize prices received. However, Moe Russell of Russell Consulting Group recommends the "crush margin" approach, locking in a target margin per head or acre by computing the spread between costs and revenues rather than focusing only on product market prices. Commodity and Ingredient Hedging (CIH) follows a similar strategy and compares potential margins against historical margin percentiles.

FBS software is designed to 1) accurately compute your own historical margins, 2) project production input requirements, and 3) account for the complex marketing transactions and match them to the appropriate time period and product.

Are any of you doing this, and if so, how? Are you interested in learning more?

Here's a recent article citing Dr. Steve Meyer's emphasizing feed's role in margins this winter.