Net farm income has indeed been declining for some years. However, it’s important to remember that these ups and downs are a normal part of being a farmer. The benefits for farmers who manage to deal with the low tides of agricultural profits are immense. The success of your farm business depends on how you cope with the current low and the succeeding low. Moreover, your capacity to weather the next low and capitalize on future possibilities also matter.
If you’re a farmer, you’re not alone in experiencing financial difficulties. Finding a single technique that works, on the other hand, is difficult. Farmers account for half of the country’s richest individuals. They are only doing 5% better than the national average in every area. They keep a tight watch on production costs and have a clear understanding of how much money they should spend to maximize profit. As the cycle rises or falls, the inputs alter accordingly.
You must document the income and expenditures associated with your homestead and/or farm to guarantee that the farm does not go downhill. You should use farm finance monitoring programs and software if you want to keep track of your farm’s financial transactions on paper.
Also Read: Best Farm Accounting Software for Managing Data
We have compiled a list of the best farm finance tracking tools to help you manage your farm finances efficiently. Each of the applications and programs listed below for keeping track of your money has its own set of perks and downsides to consider.
You should explore and compare the different software to determine which one is the greatest fit for your company’s needs. Make sure the application you want to buy is compatible with the operating system on your computer before making a purchasing decision.
QuickBooks
With Quick Book, you can keep track of your farm’s expenses and revenues quite efficiently. This application is one of the most popular among business owners of all sizes. You can connect your SHARES bank accounts to the software. The software will input your spending for you automatically. This will save you time. For an additional monthly fee, you can also manage the payroll for your farm.
QuickBooks’ lone shortcoming is that it does not have any features that are specialized to the agriculture industry. It’s conceivable that QuickBooks is the most suitable alternative if all you require is accounting, depending on whether or not you want farm management.
Fresh Books
Fresh Books is an accounting tool created for small-business owners. You can access it from any place because Fresh Books is hosted in the cloud. Even though it does not specialize in agriculture, Fresh Books offers superb accounting tools.
Expesify
It is a low-cost ($5/month) service that allows you to keep track of the spending on your farm by connecting your bank accounts. Cash transactions may be recorded in your financial report by scanning the receipts and including them in your financial report. Although Quick Books is only a spending tracker, you can use it to integrate this program into a comprehensive financial management system.
Agrivi
Agrivi is a comprehensive farm management system that allows you to keep track of everything that takes place on your land. You can use this tool to keep track of your farm’s finances and weather conditions. Moreover, it also helps you keep a check on pests and weeds, among other things.
Additionally, you can use this program to keep track of tillage, fertilizer, planting, crop protection, irrigation, harvesting, resources, and inventory levels. Growers, ranchers, and homesteaders can benefit from Agrivi’s focus on crops rather than animals. However, the financial monitoring, reporting, and resource and inventory management features are available as well.
FarmBiz
You can use FarmBiz to keep track of sales and expenditures, manage bank accounts, and generate financial reports for your agricultural company. All transactions must be completed by hand in this application because this software does not provide agriculture-specific reporting or the ability to connect bank accounts. There is a free trial edition of this application that you can utilize before choosing whether or not to buy it.
EasyFarm
The initial investment with EasyFarm is a bit more, but the services it provides seem to be well worth the additional cost.
There are several different plans to select from. It has a variety of farm management tools and financial operations. However, it does not provide payroll for a single farm operation. Moreover, the Plus version has all of the capabilities of Lite, as well as some additional functionality.
The Premier version is the same as Pro, but it includes tools for both livestock and crop management for several arms. Farm Manager Pro can manage multiple farms. Moreover, it has a Livestock Management function or a Crop Management function as well. You can add more modules using EasyFarm if you feel the need for it.
CenterPoint
CenterPoint Accounting is a farm accounting and management software tool. CenterPoint’s pricing is customized to meet the individual needs of each client. Farmers and ranchers alike will benefit from the numerous accounting and farm management tools included in this software package.
Moreover, you can use the payroll feature if you need to distribute salaries to your employees. The drawback of using this program is that you will have to enter all your expenses manually.
Monthly Farm Expense Tracker
The Monthly Farm Expense Tracker makes keeping track of your farm spending simpler. There is a separate page for each month of the year, which allows you to keep track of monthly and seasonal spending patterns and rapidly fine-tune your expenditures as needed.
Farm and Homestead Tracker Pack
You can use the Farm and Homestead Finance Tracker to keep track of the finances of your farm or homestead, which you can download for free.
The following agricultural record keeping and resource papers are included in this collection:
- Farm and Homestead Financial Objectives, broken out by tax type, income, and sales for each category
- Farm Finance Review (done annually)
It contains the following items:
- Farm Savings/Operating Fund Log
- Miscellaneous Expenses (Garden, Livestock, etc.)
- Farm and Homestead Debt Tracker (included).
Homstead Management Binder
You will find the Farm and Homestead Finance Tracker Package, Livestock Management Binder, Homestead Garden Planner, and the Homestead Goal & Project Planner – all in one binder. You can keep track of the finances of your farm and other aspects of your farm and homestead with this comprehensive tool.
Homstead Mama Planning Pack
The Farm and Homestead Finance Tracker Pack is part of the Homestead Mama Planning Pack, which you can get here. One binder contains three separate books: Homestead Management, Household Management, and the All-In-One Homeschool Planner. If you’re seeking assistance with managing your family and homeschooling, as well as the financial aspects of your farm, here is the place for you.
Conclusion
Many functions are only available in costlier software; such as inventory management. These features are not available in the free version. However, you may use these packages to construct a net worth statement, cash flow statement, and budget statement for the next year. Choose a farm finance software that you think suits your needs the best.
