Farm Business Management: Analysis of Farming Systems

The third and final instalment of Peter Nuthall's Farm Business Management series, this volume teaches the practical skills needed to manage a farm, such as risk analysis, budgeting, cost benefit analyses and much more. The key characteristic of this book is its ability to simplify the complex subject of business management into a clear, accessible volume tailored to the topic of farming, by using engaging techniques such as worked examples to fully explain the complex decision making tools necessary for this discipline.

Table of Contents:
1: Introduction 2: The Environment Under Which Farming Systems Exist 3: Decisions Under Non-certainty - Probability, Methods and Models 4: Cost-Benefit Analysis - Recognizing Input-Output Timing 5: More on Decision Making and Utility (Objectives) 6: Farm Surveys - Uses, Procedures and Methods 7: Improving Farming Systems Using Survey Data; and Information Systems 8: Constructing Improved Systems 9: Methods and Models of Income Variability Reducing Techniques 10: Budgeting - The Simplest Form of Farm Systems Analysis 11: Linear Programming - The Farm Model and Finding an Optimal Solution 12: Linear Programming - Using the Solution and Creating Realistic Farm Models 13: Dynamic Programming 14: Systems Simulation 15: The Structure and Analysis of Specific Part-farm Problems 16: Concluding Comments - Review and Summary Appendix 1: A Synopsis of Production Economics Appendix 2: Example of the output from an Individual Farm 'End of Year' Analysis Appendix 3: Solving Linear Programming Problems Appendix 4: An Example of a Schematic LP Matrix for a Simple Lamb-Producing Farm

About the Author :
Peter L. Nuthall has spent many years teaching and researching aspects of farm management. In addition he has developed and managed a team involved in producing and supporting computer aided management systems used by large numbers of farmers. While most of his time has been at Lincoln University in Canterbury, New Zealand, he has also researched and/or taught at the University of Queensland, Purdue University (Indiana), the University of Kent, and the University of Edinburgh. He has also worked for the UK Meat Marketing Board while based at the University of Nottingham (Sutton Bonnington). Many institutions involved in researching and teaching farm management have been visited to gather ideas in both the developed and developing world. He also has experience of agriculture in a diverse range of situations including Russia, India, Fiji, Australia, NZ, USA and the UK. Nuthall has published widely in scientific journals throughout the world, and in monographs as well as having many research results taken up by the popular farming press.