Software for crop records can be overwhelming for the novice computer person, and a bit expensive. The spreadsheets I have developed will hopefully be your stepping stone to a better purchased program.
If you have some knowledge of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, these record keeping tools may be helpful. If you live in the 6-county region of the Capital Area Agriculture and Horticulture Program, I can meet with you to teach you how to use them.
Two of the spreadsheets ask for machinery costs for field operations. If you do not have your own costs figured out, you can get a “ballpark” idea by using the Pennsylvania Custom Machinery Rates at (cut & paste the link): https://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Pennsylvania/Publications/Machinery_Custom_Rates/
Crop Expense Calculator from Receipts – this spreadsheet and printable paper form, will help you calculate your crop costs using your receipts for expenses. If you have decent yield information, you can also calculate profit.
CLICK HERE – Crop Expense Calc from Receipts-1sdznbr
Field Crop Record Management v2 – this spreadsheet helps you record field by field expenses. Each time you perform a task or apply an input, you can record it. At the end of the season, it tallies up your expenses, income (if you can provide yield information) and profit for each field and each crop. This spreadsheet can fit on your smartphone screen, so you can enter data as you are working. It also has a crop rotation planner, and records for manure spreading and soil sampling.
CLICK HERE – Field Crop Record Management v2-t6i010
Allocations in Shared Crop Production – is for farmers that cooperatively grow a crop. The various tasks, expenses, and crop can be allocated to each of two farmers. It may take a few minutes to “digest” this spreadsheet, so use the example sheet to understand how it works. Feel free to give me a call (Aaron Gabriel, 518-380-1496)
CLICK HERE – Allocations in Shared Crop Production v1-vrgjkm
Dairy Forage & Crop Production Balance – this spreadsheet can also be used for beef operations. It helps you calculate how much forage your herd will eat, how much you grow on your land, and how much storage capacity you have for your crop. If these three things are not in balance, you can have real difficulties managing your business. Remember that forage quality affects how much forage livestock eat and how much you must grow. This spreadsheet is a bit “busy”, but worth the effort to digest if you need help balancing these three aspects of your livestock business.
CLICK HERE – Dairy Forage & Crop Production Balance by %BW v1-180nws6
