Agricultural Budget Calculator Training
It’s always important to estimate cost of production for our agricultural enterprises, but now with the volatile input and crop prices, it’s even more critical. Knowing your estimated cost of production can assist you in making important management decisions now and throughout the production and marketing year.
We have scheduled a number of in-person workshops across the state, as well as virtual workshops, so Agricultural Budget Calculator users can get hands-on experience and learn about how the program can assist ag producers and managers.
Hop on your computer, create an Ag Budget Calculator (ABC) program account (agbudget.unl.edu), and let us walk you through the program features and provide instruction on using the program!
In-person and Virtual Training
Virtual Sessions
Two different virtual workshops are periodically offered for ABC program users of all skill levels. Sessions are held over Zoom.
Our goal is to make your experience using the Agricultural Budget Calculator (ABC) program a good one. ABC is designed to be user friendly and to be a useful resource in assisting with management decisions on your farm or ranch based on your enterprise and whole farm budgets created with the program.
ABC Overview and Whole Farm Features (1.5 hours)
Schedule:
- September 6 - 11 a.m. CDT
- November 10 - 1 p.m. CST
- November 30 - 1 p.m. CST
- December 12 – 5:30 p.m. CST
- December 21 - 9:30 a.m. CST
- January 4, 2023 – 1:00 p.m. CST
The ABC Overview and Whole Farm Features session will cover the following topics:
- Using the ABC program to create and/or update crop budgets for your farms or fields (owned and/or rented ground)
- What’s included in the projected cost of production and anticipated return reports generated by ABC (cash and economic costs and returns
- Reconciling operation expenses to account for farm totals
- Allocate overhead expenses to enterprises
- More about ABC program features, including breakeven, crop comparison, and risk analysis, and how can use program features in decision making.
ABC Q&A Session
Schedule:
- September 8 - 11 a.m. CDT
- September 28 – 12:30 p.m. CDT
- October 28 – 1:00 p.m. CDT
- November 10 – 3:00 p.m. CST
- November 22 – 1:00 p.m. CST
- December 19 – 5:30 p.m. CST
The ABC Q&A Sessions are scheduled on an ongoing basis to provide an opportunity for program users to join in on Zoom to ask their questions about making the best use of the ABC program for their operation. You might be running into questions about the program that others have as well. So, if we can hop on Zoom at the same time, we can help each other! And we appreciate hearing your questions and your feedback on ABC.
If you have a question and don’t want to wait for a training or Q & A session, please call or send an email to Glennis McClure, Extension Educator, 402.472.0661, or gmcclure3@unl.edu
In-person
Attendees are encouraged to bring their own laptop to learn how use the program during the workshop. Mobile lab computers will be available if needed.
Schedule:
- December 15 - 1 p.m.: Fillmore County Fairgrounds, Geneva, Neb.
- More trainings to be scheduled soon!
Topics covered at in-person workshops:
- Using the ABC program to create and/or update crop enterprise budgets for your various farms or fields on owned and/or rented ground.
- Save and print enterprise cost of production and return reports.
- Get details with hands-on demonstration of combining enterprise budgets using the “whole farm” component of the program, including reconciling operation expenses and allocating overhead expenses to enterprises.
- Learn more about other program features, including breakeven, crop comparison and the risk analysis module.