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| Crop Update - 1/11/2007 | |||
| Back to the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program Home Page | |||
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UPCOMING EVENTS REMINDER: Viticulture 2007 and 36th Annual NY Wine Industry Workshop Feb.
7 - 9, 2007 Click here to download
a Vit 2007 Registration form (word document) |
Sustainable Viticulture Workbook Project
Volunteers are still needed to assist us with the refinement phase of a sustainable Viticulture Workbook developed through a cooperative effort of growers, processors, the Finger Lakes Regional Grape Program, Long Island Grape Program and the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program.
At this point in time we are asking for help from growers to go through the workbook, answering the questions that pertain to them (and let us know what questions do not pertain to their operation). If you participate what you will end up with is a scorecard with scores from 1 (best practice) to 4 (should look at this practice to see if it can be improved). In the Lake Erie Region there will be a follow up visit from Tim Weigle and hopefully a member of the SWCD from your county (they have the money to help with cost sharing) to discuss how you might be able to move the practices that received a rating of 4 to a rating closer to 1.
If you are interested in working with us on this project please send Edith an email at emb35@cornell.edu or give her a call at 716.672.6830 so she can schedule an appointment with you.
| 2006 NY & PA Pest Management Guidelines are available on-line at: http://ipmguidelines.org/grapes/ | |
| If you prefer a hard copy version you can contact your local Lake Erie Regional Grape Program Extension office or local county extension office for partner counties (Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, NY, Erie, PA and Niagara). | |
| Download Adobe Reader - free software that lets you view, print, search, and share Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. |  |
| Grape Farm Business Management | Barry Shaffer |
A Different Way To Analyze Your Current Debt
Excessive current liabilities (debt) usually signal a restructuring of debt or worse. Typically I have used the current ratio (current assets/current liabilities X 100) I like to see a current ratio of 1.5 or better. If it is less than 1, the business likely has a high level of financial stress and is unlikely to meet their upcoming repayments.
Recently I learned of another way of looking at current liabilities. In the January 2007 issue of the The Ferguson AgReport, the Current Liabilities as % of Total Revenue (CL%TR) ratio was explained. This ratio needs to be used with Gross Profit (Loss) On Cash Revenue (GP(L)OCR). This can seem pretty complicated so I found using an example helped to understand the concept. The author says that "Few commercial agricultural operations will be able to support Current Liabilities levels indefinitely when they exceed ¾ of the Total Dollars of Cash Surplus From Operations. Thus most producers earning 20% Gross Profit margins consistently should not risk CL%TR Index above 15%... or those with a 10%GPOCR should remain below 7.5% CL%TR. Unfortunately, financially distressed farms and ranches often carry potentially disastrous Current Liability Indices of 60-250%."
Here is an example. Fred Finance is a 110-acre grower that averaged $1600 per acre in income in 2006 or $176,000. His cost will average $1400 per acre or $154,000.
| Gross Revenue of | 176,000 |
| Total costs | 154,000 |
| Gross Profit | $22,000 |
| GPOCR | 22,000/176,000= .125x 100=12.5% |
Fred had a $6,000 principal payment on a mortgage, a $7,000 lease payment on a tractor, and $5,500 in interest costs. Add these together and we come up with $18,500 in current liabilities. 18,500/176000=.105 X 100=10.5% CL%TR.
Fred Finance looks to be slightly overextended according to these guidelines yet he only had $50 per acre interest cost! With my LEGFCS average interest expense over $100 per acre, I imagine a lot of area grape farms have too much debt for their profit margins!
| Grape Cultural Practices | Hans Walter-Peterson |
What Can You Get For $55 These Days?
We're all aware, sometimes painfully, about how the cost of everything keeps going up. Not too long ago, it seemed like $55 was a pretty good chunk of change. These days, what can you get for $55?
A dinner for two out at a decent restaurant A tank of gas (maybe not even a full one) for your pickup truck About 300 pounds of ammonium nitrate Chemical costs for about ½ acre of grapes for next season.Or you can attend a conference where you will hear national and international speakers, as well as some of your peers, talk about topics that directly affect Concord and Niagara grape growers. The cost to attend "Juice Grape Day" at Viticulture 2007, which is Friday, February 9, is $50 (if you register by tomorrow). That price includes your lunch, all of the sessions, an expansive trade show, and the opportunity to network with other grape growers from all over New York, Pennsylvania and the eastern U.S.
What about the other $5? That's all it costs for your seat on the coach bus that will take to you to Rochester on Friday morning and bring you back that evening, thanks to the generous support of National Grape Cooperative, Cliffstar, Carriage House, and Centerra Wine Company. You can find out more details on the information sheet by clicking here, or go to: 011107_Bus Transportation.pdf. This file is in pdf format and you will need Adobe reader to download it - the link to download Adobe for free is above.
If you wait to register until after Friday, January 12, the registration cost goes up to $80. The value of the program is even well beyond that price, in my opinion. And heck - you can probably even write off the expense of attending!
You can register for the conference online at www.Viticulture2007.org, or you can download a registration form to fill out and mail in (early bird registrations have to be postmarked by January 12). Information about the program and the trade show is there as well.
| Weather Facts | Tim Weigle and Edith Byrne |
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| The weather proverb from the Farmer's Almanac this week is: |
| A summerish January, a winterish spring . . . |
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UPCOMING EVENTS: |
| Andy Muza | Extension Agent, Erie County, PA Cooperative Extension | (814) 825-0900 |
| Barry Shaffer | Area Extension Farm Business Management Educator | (716) 679-3185 |
| Hans Walter-Peterson | Area Extension Grape Cultural Practices Educator | (716) 672-2191 |
| Tim Weigle | Sr. Area Extension Educator, Grape IPM | (716) 672-6830 |
| For
any questions or comments on the format of this update please contact Tim Weigle at: timweigl@netsync.net |
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The Lake Erie Regional Grape Program Website is maintained by the NYS Grape IPM Program |
| 412 E. Main Street, Fredonia, N.Y. 14063 | Telephone: 716-672-5296 | E-mail: Webmaster |