Budgeting for crops and livestock production is one of the cornerstones of sound farm business management. To help producers prepare for the year ahead, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Center for Agricultural Profitability and Nebraska Extension will host a workshop from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Jan. 20 in Blue Hill, at the Community Center, 555 W. Gage St.
The program will be led by Glennis McClure, an extension educator and farm and ranch management analyst with Nebraska Extension. It will focus on strategies for projecting costs of production, determining breakeven prices, setting marketing plans, and estimating profitability.
Topics will include:
- Key principles for calculating cost of production and breakeven costs
- A review of Nebraska crop budgets with estimates for 2026 production costs, along with some recent sample cattle budgets
- How enterprise budgeting can guide management decisions
- Features of the free, online UNL Agricultural Budget Calculator (ABC) program, including customizable enterprise budgets, risk analysis, whole-farm pro forma profit and loss, and monthly cash flow tracking
Lunch, sponsored by South Central State Bank, is provided for free.
Following lunch, participants will take part in a hands-on session featuring an interactive demonstration of the ABC program. Attendees will learn how to get started using the program or enhance their skills if they are already familiar with it.
Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop or tablet with internet access to fully engage in the hands-on portion of the workshop.
The free Ag Budget Calculator program is available at https://agbudget.unl.edu.
Register by Jan. 15 by calling Nebraska Extension in Adams County at 402-461-7209 or Nebraska Extension in Webster County at 402-746-3717.
