Another year has come and gone. The crop is in the bin, the hay is in the barn, and the cows are home. You may be thinking it’s time to relax. However, much of the operation’s most important and impactful work is still ahead before year-end. Just like the equipment gets cleaned up, repaired, and maintained, the same time and care needs to be given to the farm’s year-end financial planning. Your farm’s year-end financial planning may include accounting and tax planning, accrual and balance sheet analysis, financial advisor and lender meetings, business risk identification and planning, and succession and estate planning. 

Nestled on the shores of Lewis and Clark Lake and the Missouri River, Bon Homme Colony is the original Hutterite Colony in North America. Through flooding, war, river damming, trials, and drought, Bon Homme has remained the North American cornerstone of the Hutterite people. Every Colony in North America has connections and ties to Bon Homme Colony. 

When you’ve milked in a parlor for over 25 years, the idea of adopting robots can be daunting. From the thought of re-training your cows, learning new technology, and to be frank, re-training your people – ensuring you’ve covered your bases is important.

This piece first appeared in the Modern Producer Magazine - Special Thanks to Britt Roman and Munters! 

The dairy operation at Vir-Clar Dairy in Fond du Lac Wisconsin is like many other dairy operations in the Midwest, a family-owned farm in its fourth generation. As a growing operation, Vir-Clar has evolved over time and they’ve added new barns, their most recent addition was a cross ventilation barn which now stands next to a naturally ventilated and a tunnel ventilated barn. Today they milk more than 2,000 cows.

You may recall, New Standard Ag recently remodeled a hog barn at Greenwald Colony. However, you might not know the family connection the Kurbis’ have with Greenwald Colony. We recently had a chance to visit more with the folks at Greenwald, diving into their history, faith, industries, and more. 

Today’s topic is manure management. 

By definition, the two separate terms are as follows:

Regenerative – adjective, relating to something growing or being grown again.

Agriculture – noun, the practice or work of farming. 

Wait - isn’t that somewhat repetitive? When we take a step back and look at Agriculture, the premise is to repeat and build on the successes of the past year. For example, dairy farming. Cows are bred to produce offspring but as a result they produce milk to collect. Those same farmers plant crops to produce feed for their dairy cows. This is a cycle that is repeated year after year.

Simply put, Agriculture itself is already a regenerative practice. Can it be improved upon? Absolutely. Should it be improved upon? Most definitely. 

The world’s population is growing at alarming rates and land is being reallocated for urban development. Producers are feeling the pressure to seek out options for increasing efficiency and output for their operations. Producers within Agriculture work hard to be good stewards of the land, with an understanding that what they put in will directly impact what they receive. Practices such as no-till or reduced till farming, cover crops, tailwater collection systems are already in place, but the need to be even more efficient is prevalent.

This piece first appeared in the Modern Producer Magazine - Special Thanks to ELO CPAs & Advisors for the article! 

The business of farming has evolved over the years to grow in complexity which has enlisted the need for enhanced planning, sophistication, and advisory services. As the amount of capital at stake in farming operations has continued to increase, so has the need for a team of advisors. At ELO CPAs and Advisors, we have an entire practice that specializes in Agriculture and seeks to partner with their clients to provide a holistic business approach to fulfill the farm’s financial, succession, accounting, and tax needs. To be successful, the whole picture must be considered, and it takes a team of advisors to accomplish this.