The BIGGEST challenge in farming right now is managing all the data that happens throughout the season and being able to make better management and financial decisions based on that data.

Watch as Scott walks you through solutions to managing the data into an actionable format.

The biggest challenge in farming right now is managing all the data that happens throughout the season and being able to make better management and financial decisions based on that data.

Don't have time to read, click play above or subscribe to our podcast on itunes.

Every farmer needs to take advantage of futures contracts, here’s an important first question:

What are they?

Futures are derivatives of a commodity that allow buyers and sellers of that commodity to fix prices at some point in the future. The whole purpose of the futures market (for you, the farmer) is to manage price risk.

For a stock or bond, you buy and sell it whenever you want. Futures, on the other hand, have contracts that expire. That’s what makes them so complicated: every contract moves at a different rate than the next.

Still, with a little knowledge, you can use futures contracts to hedge your grain. These five nuggets will help you learn how to use futures to manage your risk.

Don't have time to read, click play above or subscribe to our podcast on itunes.

Hope is not a good grain marketing strategy.

The price risk you run when you store grain doesn’t go away, even if you hold your breath. Even though harvest is over, a lot of the numbers are coming out. If you’re already tight with your break-even cost of production, you want to make sure you’re not losing more money as that grain sits at the elevator.

How do you this? By developing a specific risk management strategy—or multiple strategies.

Here are seven strategies you can use to hedge stored grain.

Don't have time to read, click play above or subscribe to our podcast on itunes.

It feels like video games back in the day were always hiding something.

In all those classic 2-D games (e.g., Super Mario and Donkey Kong) there were secret parts of the “level” that led to treasure, goods, or new places—if you knew where to look. The good stuff was all right there, under your nose, but you wouldn’t find it unless you were looking.

I think there’s a good lesson farmers can learn here. There are nuggets of profit hidden all over your operation, right now, that you can find if you know what to look for. Honestly, a few tweaks here and there can be the difference of tens of thousands of dollars for you annually.

Let me help you start looking by showing you six areas where your profit is hiding.

Don't have time to read, click play above or subscribe to our podcast on itunes.

Data organization: The ability to organize and structure data to locate strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities in the farming operation.

On every operation, big or small, there are a lot of data points. Those data points have to be organized into a structure in order to locate efficiencies and inefficiencies.

Otherwise, you might go into a negotiating meeting not unprepared. A lot of farmers go to the negotiating table simply saying “that’s too expensive.” But if you bring specific, organized data from last year’s purchases, you’ll give yourself bargaining power and protection.

Data is useless unless it’s organized into a usable format. That’s really the point of the Cash Cow Farmer program: to manage your expenses and revenue so you can find the best investments in your operation.

Whether you use Cash Cow or some other means of recording, there are main types of farm data you should be tracking.

       Don't have time to read, click play above or subscribe to our podcast on itunes.

If you’ve ever been married—or in any relationship, with anyone, ever—you know the importance of negotiation.

Two people who disagree will never find common ground without some amount of back and forth. Sometimes that means one person gives in to what the other person wants; sometimes it doesn’t.

The same principle applies in farming. While negotiating with a landlord may not look at all similar to negotiating with a spouse, I think the two require a lot of the same things. As with a spouse, farmers should try to jump into the landlord’s shoes, negotiating as if he were a best friend.

That’s loosely what Stuart Diamond’s recent book Getting Moreis about. Diamond, one of the most famous professors at Wharton Business School, wrote this book not about how to get everything, but how to get more out of life by valuing the other party’s perceptions. It covers everything from getting your kids to do their homework to working billion dollar deals; I highly recommend listening to the audiobook while you’re running around in your combine.

I’ve adapted three “rules” or principles from Diamond’s book. I believe they’re key to mastering the art of negotiating land rent.

Don't have time to read, listen to this article on itunes or click play above.

During a recent antique tractor show in my hometown, I got an earful of complaints. 

A number of farmers told me they were still sitting on last year’s crop and didn’t know what in the world to do with it. They were selling last year’s crop to slowly pay for this year's crop.I asked a simple question: Why didn’t they try a commodity loan?

When I was met with blank faces, I realized that a lot of farmers are missing out on one of the best resources available to them: government loans.

Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans are insanely cheap; taking one out is almost like borrowing directly from the federal reserve. They’re great ways to finance purchases and bridge your gaps between selling commodities. If you need to boost your cash position look into FSA loans, starting with these three.

Alan Strom, left, and his son Nick, started using Cash Cow Farmer in the 2015 season and say reviewing budgets and inputs on their fields is crucial to determining the health of their operation in Brown County, S.D.

Scott Anderson brought a Wall Street education back to the farm and used his experience with corporate finance and money management to create the Cash Cow Farmer program designed for simplicity and utility. Cash Cow Farmer is a user-friendly financial program that calculates field by field production costs and manages inventory and grain marketing strategies.