Items by Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence
By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Jun. 30, 2022
IFMA 23, the biannual congress of the International Farm Management Association was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in late June.
The Cost of a Bad Hire
By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on May. 31, 2022
Desperate times often require desperate actions, and no time seems more desperate than when the needs are great, time is limited, and labor is short. You need help and you need it now! Add the competition from $15-18/hr service sector wages to the mix and the situation seems almost hopeless.
Opportunity or Obligation
By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Nov. 23, 2021
Baby Boomers are in the process of transitioning trillions of dollars of assets to Millennials and Gen Zers. This includes farming Baby Boomers. USDA’s Farmland Ownership and Tenure survey indicates that about ten percent of farm assets transition to new owners every five years.
Family Living Expenses on Kentucky Farms
By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Oct. 28, 2021
There is likely no single item in a farm business cash flow with more uncertainty and more variability than “family living expense.” Farm income and expense items are measured pretty accurately because they will be needed for tax reporting and for borrowing eligibility…two pretty good reasons.
2021 Land Values
By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Aug. 16, 2021
Average Kentucky farm real estate values were $4,000/acre as reported in the annual Land Values Summary released by USDA on August 6. This was 2.0% higher than 2020 and the first-time average values have reached $4,000.
People Skills: Appropriate Feedback
By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Jun. 29, 2021
Farmers manage crops and cattle, machinery and marketing, land and labor. That last one may be the most difficult. People are the most important resource in a farm business. Nothing productive happens unless people are doing something with the crops, cattle, machinery, marketing, and land.
Communication in Stressful Times
By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Nov. 25, 2020
2020 has been a stressful year. That sentence is a serious contender for Understatement of the Year. Pandemics, politics, and paradigm shifts have provided no shortage of stressful situations. Lives, families, jobs, schools, commerce, and social lives have all been disrupted.
Hired Farm Labor and the Role of Hispanic Workers
By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Oct. 29, 2020
Family members provide about two-thirds of the workers on U.S. farms, but the remaining one-third consists of 1.18 million hired workers. While not an insignificant number, the 1.18 million farmworkers represent less than one percent of the total U.S. wage and salary workers.
2020 Land Values Report
By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Aug. 13, 2020
The 2020 Land Values Summary was released by USDA on Thursday, August 6. This annual report indicates the average value of all land and buildings on farms in the US, and by state and region. Three categories are measured: Farm Real Estate Value, Cropland Value, and Pasture value.
Workforce Planning in the Time of COVID
By Steve Isaacs | Extension Professor
Published on Jun. 29, 2020
The pandemic has disrupted almost every phase of our lives. One of the most visible has been the workplace. Layoffs, furloughs, shutdowns, working remotely, social distancing and public health considerations have permanently changed the way we work.
