PDPW’s Financial Literacy for Dairy Helps Farmers Sharpen Financial Acuity
Dairy producers know that managing the finance side of their business is paramount – and it involves more than cutting costs and working diligently to boost profitability. However, given all the other responsibilities farmers have, it can be a challenge to set aside time for learning how to understand, calculate and work with the right numbers to make appropriate business decisions.
When Professional Dairy Producers® (PDPW) began developing Financial Literacy for Dairy® years ago, they teamed with leading dairy financial experts to create a curriculum that incorporated dairy-specific metrics, take-home assignments personalized for each attendee’s own farm and networking opportunities between class attendees and presenters.
“Our committee members wanted to create a program that wouldn’t entail a lengthy time commitment,” said PDPW program manager Cassandra Strupp. “We also wanted to ensure attendees would be placed into the level that best suited their current level of financial comprehension, so an online assessment was created as part of the registration process.”
Financial Literacy for Dairy provides three successive levels of intense training, each building on principles learned in the previous level. All levels are scheduled so attendees can either complete the entire series in one program year or spread it out over multiple years.
In the first level, attendees expand on the core financial concepts – goal setting, balance sheets, cash income statements and cash flow budgeting. This level also prepares students to apply those tools in practical settings with lenders and in negotiations.
Level two gives attendees a deeper look at more comprehensive tools and reporting methods such as profitability and cost-center tracking, enterprise budgets, and understanding and establishing key performance measures and ratios.
“Financial Literacy has allowed us to take our dairy business to the next level,” said Heather Moore of Moore Family Farm and Moore Local near Maquoketa, Iowa. “I now have a better understanding of the numbers we use every day and a higher level of understanding to plan our business.”
Level three students explore advanced concepts, including strategies for optimizing capital purchases, trend analysis, benchmarking, best practices for family-business governance and more.
“Believe me when I say this was the best financial course I have attended, hands down,” Geoff Gerrits, Chief Financial Officer of Breeze Dairy Group, LLC, in Appleton, Wisconsin. “Never before have I had such a list of items that I could take back and actually implement in the real world.”
The 2023-24 Financial Literacy for Dairy training program kicked off Nov. 8-9 with the first of two courses for level one participants. Limited spaces are yet open in levels two and three; those will begin in January 2024 and March 2024, respectively.
Facilitators for the training programs bring their financial expertise and real-world banking experiences working with dairy farmers. Trainers are Kevin Bernhardt, PhD, agribusiness professor at University of Wisconsin-Platteville School of Agriculture and farm management specialist at UW-Extension and Center for Dairy Profitability; Gary Sipiorski, business and financial consultant with 30 years of experience in agricultural banking; and Dick Wittman, board chair, transition coach and former manager of a 20,000-acre crop, cattle and timber operation in Idaho.
PDPW Financial Literacy for Dairy Program Details
LEVEL 1
- Opening session: Nov. 8-9, 2023
- Final session: Dec. 6-7, 2023
LEVEL 2
- Opening session: Jan. 17-18, 2024
- Continuing session: Feb. 7-8, 2024
- Final session: Feb. 28-29, 2024
LEVEL 3
- One session: Mar. 20-21, 2024
More information about Financial Literacy for Dairy program and the “Count on Us” program in which participating lenders, financial institutions and consultants are willing to provide partial scholarships to dairy producers completing the program, is available at www.pdpw.org.
