| PROJECT SUMMARY |
Financial management risk is a major concern for many northwest producers. Perennial crop producers face many challenges related to price risk and high establishment costs when it comes to planting new crops. Furthermore, landowners are often reluctant to sell their land and, thus, the need for determining an equitable and successful long-term lease agreement with a tenant is important.
In 1994, Washington State University, Oregon State University and the University of Idaho developed the Crop Profitability Analysis (CPA) software program in DOS to evaluate the profitability of existing crops and/or the potential profitability of establishing new perennial crops. This was a proposal to reprogram the CPA program into a Windows - based language. An additional component of this proposal was the development of a computer program to help determine an equitable crop-share and/or cash rent lease for existing perennial crops or perennial crops that are to be established.
Twelve training sessions, six in Oregon, four in Washington, one each in California and Colorado were conducted for producers and lenders. Many of the training sessions were held in computer labs at community colleges, Extension learning centers or in Extension offices with laptop computers. Three of these training sessions specifically targeted winegrape growers. Eight training sessions were targeted to fruit, berry, grape and nut producers in California, Oregon, Colorado and Washington. However, the computer programs are useful to producers of other perennial crops, such as alfalfa, and to producers of annual row crops that have specific rotational systems they want to explore.
As a result of these training sessions, producers came to understand their long-run costs and revenues and the financial and price risk implications if an uninformed decision was made when establishing orchard crops or when negotiating long-run leasing arrangements.
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| NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: 136 |
| TOPICS COVERED |
| Product and enterprise diversification |
| Capital and financial assets |
| Leases, contracts and negotiation |
| Understanding of economic risks associated with new production technologies |
