We all keep records of some type. If for nothing else farmers want to track the amounts of a crop harvested or sold. Yet in this lesson we want to encourage you to keep more comprehensive records so that you can use them to gain insight into the well-being, possible future growth and direction your farming ‘enterprise’ could take. Records can be used as decision-aids. Records can supply you with data needed to make informed decisions about future machinery purchases, profitability of certain crops and changes in market trends.

Also as you begin to move from a farm to a firm you will need records to support your application for bank loans, tax references and other institutional requirements. In this lesson we will also begin to show you how to keep a simple set of records using a spread sheet program that takes a lot of the complicated ‘Maths’ out of compiling statistical data.