Inflation is an ever-present problem for any business—and farms are no exception. Higher inflation rates can mean having to pay more to workers to keep them, paying more for various supplies, and having a harder time selling certain products as cost-conscious consumers cut back on grocery expenses to stretch their own budgets. Having a farm management information system can help farm owners and operators stay ahead of inflation and keep their businesses profitable.

While pastoral images and pictures of farmland often suggest a kind of quiet peace, anyone who’s worked a farm or ranch knows that, most days, it’s far from tranquil; there are just so many moving parts. At any given moment, one might be pulled in a different direction to handle evolving situations or address pressing needs.

But, what if there was a tool to help manage all those moving parts, including outside vendors and suppliers, ensuring that supply needs are met in a way that saves both time and money? Farm ERP software is designed to do just that, including helping with vendor management.

Prior to the arrival of drones, farmers relied on aerial footage from manned aircraft or satellite images to provide a valuable view from above when it comes to their fields and land. In the 1980s, drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) appeared on the scene, but they still weren’t  cost-effective for most farmers.

Today, no one underestimates the value of drones in farming. Even that technology has grown exponentially and farmers are learning how to leverage it to improve their operations. Still, all the data in the world can’t help with farm management if there’s no way to aggregate and organize it in a way that delivers the insights you need to plan.

That’s where ERP software comes in. While it’s been in existence for quite some time, advances have provided significant improvements in agricultural ERP software that, much like a drone, can provide a comprehensive and detailed view from above for your farm operations.

Farms don’t exist in isolation; they’re part of a system with multiple variables that impact crop growth, livestock viability, and farm profitability. That ecosystem is carefully monitored as any change in any single variable ripples throughout a farm’s operations and management. For centuries, a failure to predict the impact of those changes or even forecast them could be catastrophic for a farmer. Thankfully, ag tech has grown by leaps and bounds meaning we have the capacity to understand far more about our land, our crops, our livestock, and our operations than ever before. That understanding and the leveraging of that data leads to farm profitability.

The following is a summary of a presentation entitled "Financial and Management Accounting Software--Developments, Implementation Challenges, and Integration Issues" made in July 2018  to the Farm Financial Standards Council Annual Conference in Champaign, Illinois.