EXPANDING THE FARM FINANCIAL BENCHMARKING DATABASE

• Maintain and expand FINBIN, the national farm financial database, by working with partners to collect data from geographically and operationally diverse farms and ranches for inclusion in the database, with specific attention to making the information more accessible and applicable to a broader variety of producers nationwide.• Expand research opportunities on cost of production and farm profitability using data aggregated in the database.• Expand collaboration among farm financial management programs by supporting and initiating new efforts to increase the quantity and diversity of farms represented in the database to enhance the educational value to producers, lenders, educators, and policymakers.• Further develop database and financial analysis tools to improve the value and efficiencies of collaborative efforts with farm management education programs and associations.• Provide training and software to farm management associations and emerging benchmarking efforts to improve the value of farm financial analysis for producers, as well as improving data collection efficiency and integrity.• Provide benchmarking assistance to help small and mid-sized producers improve profitability and increase their ability to manage risk, volatility, and financial stress.• Create training resources to assist in the interpretation and meaningful application of information from FINBIN so that producers can more effectively manage their operations through this era of financial stress.