Record keeping is an essential part of any business operation, and farming is no exception to that. I started my extension career around the same time our local CAIP program started. I was interested in learning more about the program so I spent time with our County Administrator. In doing so, I noticed that Henry County’s farmers were struggling with record keeping. The same issue came up in a discussion with my local FSA Executive Director. After those initial discussions, I did an informal polling of some farmers that would come in, asking them what they would like to see from a record-keeping class. From what I gathered; farmers wanted a very basic record-keeping class. Older farmers also indicated that they prefer to do record-keeping with a paper-based system. I decided that I would teach the class, rather than a specialist. To further encourage farmers to improve their record-keeping methods, I created personalized binders specific to their operation that were free of charge. This required every participant to call ahead to RSVP and provide more information about their farms. I had 37 people call and sign up and I made 26 personalized binders. Some of the participants were married couples or parents and children.

The majority of farmers signed up had beef cattle as their main farming enterprise. There were around nine vegetable producers and two grain crop producers. Each binder contained eight tabs. Those tabs varied between the three farming enterprises represented in the group. The beef cattle binder had templates for calving records, individual cow records, health records, and pasture records. There were various other record-keeping templates as well as extension information throughout the binder. The vegetable producers received a binder with tabs for planting records, greenhouse records, fertilizer records and other important record-keeping templates. Contained in every binder were tabs and sheets where farmers can record their expenses and revenue. I also included with the binders were UK-published “Kentucky Farm Records Books.” A lot of farmers commented that they were familiar with the book and liked using it in the past. My presentation highlighted the different parts of the binders and how they should be used. I covered some basic technologies that farmers could start to incorporate into their record-keeping methods. I also provided some follow-up reading material and videos that farmers could access for more information.

30 people signed in after arriving for the class. 17 male and 13 female. One participant identified as Latino on the sign-in sheet. There were more in attendance than signed in. I set the room up with 40 seats. All but two were taken by someone. About two months after the class, I created a survey to see how effective the presentation and materials were. Almost every participant provided an email, so I decided to do an online survey. I received seven responses. 100% of respondents indicated that the class helped them improve their record-keeping methods. 57% of respondents have utilized the materials I provided from the class, and the other 43% of respondents indicated that they planned to use the materials. Outside of the formal survey, I was personally approached with positive remarks about the class. I was asked by three separate producers to make a binder for them outside of the class.

Based on the responses both in the survey and from community members I plan to do this class again in the future. I will add to it, expanding on more complex record-keeping methods and moving some of these farmers to computer-based methods.