The Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at
the University of Missouri has developed an online tool to help
farmers build projected budgets for their operations. The Farm
Cost and Return Tool, or Farm CART, is at
www.fapri.missouri.edu/projects. “The tool allows beginning
farmers and ranchers, not only in Missouri but all over the
country, to play a what-if game on the Web,” said FAPRI
economist Peter Zimmel. “They can develop a farm with how many
acres they want, how many animals they want, and they can see
what it will look like financially over the next five years.”
Farm CART was funded by a Beginning Farmer and Rancher
Development Grant from USDA’s National Institute of Food and
Agriculture. The USDA Beginning Farmer and Rancher project was
started because the age of the average farmer is increasing and
the number of farmers is decreasing. USDA is looking for ways to
educate people who may want to start farming in the future,
Zimmel said. FAPRI developed Farm CART to help producers who