Agriculture & Farm Business Finance

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Build a gross margin budget for Hillcrest Farm's four crops: output, variable costs and gross margin per hectare and per crop.
• Compare Hillcrest Farm's crops, beef and sheep by gross margin per hectare and per hour of labour, the two scarce resources on most farms.
• Work out how many tonnes per hectare and what price per tonne Hillcrest's wheat needs to cover its costs, then map profit across yields and prices.
• Read a nitrogen response table, work out the marginal return of each extra 40 kg of N and find the economic optimum rate, then chart the response curve.
• Cost a combine harvester per hour and per hectare (depreciation, interest, insurance, repairs, fuel and labour) and find the area at which owning beats a contractor.
• Cost a beef finishing ration per head per day, budget the feed the group needs, work out the feed cost per kg of gain and the margin per steer.
• Build Hillcrest Farm's cash flow calendar: net cash flow and bank balance per two-month period, the peak overdraft, and a combo chart of the year.
• Read Hillcrest Farm's balance sheet and income summary like a lender: liquidity, solvency, profitability and the ability to repay debt.