Ohio Farm Business Analysis Program

The message is clear: farms must know their costs of production for corn, soybeans, hay, milk, meat, and any other commodities they produce.  Why?  To make informed marketing, production and financial management decisions that contribute to the overall profitability of the whole farm business.

Farm business analysis is a tool that can be applied to any farm, regardless of size, crop, or livestock enterprise. Financial management is critical to the success of every farm business, and with analysis, farms are able to better understand the numbers behind their profits or losses. Continue reading

Resource Kit Available for Those Exploring a Meat Processing Business

A team of Ohio State business and meat science specialists have compiled a Meat Processing Business Tool Kit for people who are exploring the meat processing business. Designed as a decision making aid for people exploring investing in or expanding a meat processing facility, this online tool kit can help entrepreneurs evaluate the business and navigate business planning. The Meat Processing Business Tool Kit may be found linked here on the OSU South Centers webpage.

This “Tool Kit” is designed to be intuitive as entrepreneurs move through the business planning process.

Word of the Week – Allelopathy

By Amy Stone OSU Extension

This week’s word of week was suggested by BYGL reader, Kathy Estabrook. Thanks to all readers who have suggested a word, or words for future BYGL alerts. Keep the suggestions coming by emailing me at stone.91@osu.edu with the subject line Word of Week for easy sorting and organzing.

Today will we be covering the word ALLELOPATHY. The meaning of the word is actually derived from two separate words. The first word is allelon which means “of each other”. The second word is pathos which means “to suffer”. It refers to the chemical inhibition of one species by another. The “inhibitory” chemical is released into the environment where it affects the development and growth of neighboring plants. It is important to note that it doesn’t necessarily inhibit the growth of all plants, but the effects can cause issues in both the landscape and garden when a plant giving off an alleopathic chemical is present, and you want to grow certain plants that find this biological phenomenon challenging. Continue reading