When January blizzards force you inside to do bookwork, here is a simple, 3 step, easy way to really analyze your farm's business performance.

• First, print off this 4 page adobe acrobat document from Purdue entitled:
  "Financial Performance: How Do I Measure it?"

  The last page lists all the major farm financial measures and some benchmark numbers to use in assessing your farm.

• Second step, download the excel spreadsheet, worksheetscash.xls which will allow you to input information off your income tax returns and basic asset and liability information. This shouldn't take more than 30 minutes, even if you are not very familiar with using excel.

  

• Third step, let the excel spreadsheet do the math for you and examine how your farm compares.