Balance it
On a balance sheet, items that a farm owns and that have value are called this.
What are assets?
This market contract allows a farmer to lock in a future selling price for their commodity before delivery.
What is a forward contract?
This animal doesn't just quack; it can also whistle, yodel, or coo.
What is a duck?
This type of loan is used to pay for daily operational costs like seed, fertilizer, and fuel.
What is an operating loan (or short-term loan)?
Because their eyes are on the sides of their heads, these fluffy farm animals can see behind themselves without turning around.
What are sheep?
Debts or financial obligations that a farm business owes to outside parties are called this.
What are liabilities?
This is the local cash price minus or plus the futures market price for a specific delivery location.
What is basis?
While they are famous for oinking, these intelligent animals can also squeal, grunt, and bark.
What is a pig?
This is the term for property or assets pledged to a lender to secure the repayment of a loan.
What is collateral?
These stubborn but lovable pack animals have an incredible memory and can recognize a place or other animals they haven't seen for 25 years.
What are donkeys?
This is another name for owner’s equity, calculated as total assets minus total liabilities.
What is net worth?
This risk-management tool gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a commodity at a set price.
What is a commodity option?
A female horse makes this high-pitched sound to communicate with her foal or herd.
What is a whinny (or neigh)?
This federal cooperative system provides credit and financial services to farmers, ranchers, and rural communities.
What is the Farm Credit System?
To cool down on a hot day, pigs don't sweat; instead, they roll around in this mess.
What is mud?
These assets can be converted into cash easily within one normal operating cycle, such as stored grain or market hogs.
What are current assets?
This is the economic term for when grain supply exceeds demand, causing local storage capacity to fill and prices to drop.
What is a market surplus (or a glut)?
Male turkeys make a famous gobble, but female turkeys make this sharp, repetitive sound instead.
What is a cluck (or yelp)?
This financial ratio measures a farm's ability to cover its debt payments using net operating income.
What is the Debt-Service Coverage Ratio (DSCR)?
These agile climbers actually have rectangular pupils, giving them a wide 320-degree panoramic view.
What are goats?
This specific balance sheet valuation method values crops and livestock at current market price minus estimated costs of marketing.
What is market valuation (or market value approach)?
This centralized exchange is where standardized agricultural futures contracts for corn, soybeans, and wheat are primarily traded in the U.S.
What is the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) / CME Group?
This specific farm bird is famous for its loud, harsh "buck-wheat" call, often acting as a natural burglar alarm.
What is a guinea fowl?
Unlike an operating loan, this multi-year loan is typically used to purchase large machinery, breeding livestock, or land.
What is an intermediate or long-term capital asset loan?
Cows are famous for having "four stomachs," but this long-necked farm animal has a true "pseudo-ruminant" system with only three stomach compartments.
What is an alpaca (or llama)?