Beginning Farmer & Land Access
Beginning Farmer Financial Benchmarking Guide
A guide to benchmarking farm finances for beginners. It explains how to compare your results to similar farms and past years to find areas to improve.
Download free PDF1 page, US Letter, prints clean in black and white
GuideBeginning Farmer & Land AccessFree PDF
The steps on this page
- Collect your financial statements
- Choose measures to track
- Find comparison data sources
- Compare to similar farms
- Compare to your prior years
- Note large differences
- Identify one or two changes
- Review progress each year
How to use this guide
Pin it up in the shop or barn. The numbered steps are a short reminder, and the notes lines are for details specific to your operation.
Where to check the details
This sheet is a general template, so confirm specifics with your own manuals, labels and local rules. For current official guidance, start with USDA Economic Research Service and farmdoc daily.
For more in this area, see the farm finance explained. Between chores, farm.FM has farm humor, including Man! I Feel Like a Farmer!, and agribusiness farm stories.