Agricultural News
Farm Data Services Makes Accounting and More Manageable for Busy Producers
Wed, 13 Jul 2022 15:51:22 CDT
Farm Director, KC Sheperd, had the chance to visit with the Vice President of Operations at Farm Data Services, Clay Burtrum. Located in Stillwater, Okla., Farm Data Services has been in business for over 40 years and manages accounting for farmers, ranchers feedlots and small businesses.
“The core of our business is doing monthly accounting records,” Burtrum said. “You don’t know where you are going unless you determine where you are and where you have been.”
Burtrum said Farm Data Services handles tasks such as putting together financial statements, full comprehensive analyses, business plans, and accounting.
“I have been home now for 22 years, and I manage the crop insurance and appraisal side of the company,” Burtrum said. “We have over 14 employees based out of Stillwater, Oklahoma, home of the Cowboys, and we also travel in about five-state regions meeting with farmers and ranchers and helping them develop those business plans.”
Some of Burtrum’s clients, he said, are third and fourth-generation clients that Farm Data Services has had for many years. Burtrum stressed the importance of staying on top of records and not waiting until the last minute.
“One of the worst things you can do is wait until that December time frame,” Burtrum said. “If you know where you are throughout the year, that is one of the best things you can do is know what those changes are.”
Burtrum said this year has been critical with making certain changes with the high input costs, fertilizer changes, and flash drought. Knowing how to make those changes on the fly, he added, and having that snapshot of financial information is really critical to making those quick decisions on your operation.
“If you had to rewind a year ago, a lot of producers would have bought some of these products, but here we are right now,” Burtrum said. “It is very critical here in the next two to three days of what we need to look at, and what to buy and what to do.”
The sales closing date to purchase insurance for annual forage, Burtrum said, is July 15th. This closing date, he added, covers graze out wheat pasture.
“You’ll want to contact any of our insurance providers,” Burtrum said. “We all work really hard for the different insurance providers across the state for when that is, so that can go for graze out wheat, that can go for oats, that can go for sorghum or anything that can be forage or fodder, you can buy the annual forage policy.”
The annual forage insurance, Burtrum said, it is based on rainfall. It is not based on what you collect in your gauge, he added, but on a grid system and a grid location of where those things are.
For those that don’t sign up in time, Burtrum said you can sign up for the Noninsured Crop Disaster Program (NAP) at your local FSA office.
“What is critical about this is if you rewind to a few months ago and you look at the Emergency Relief Program that went out through FSA, a lot of these programs, you had to be signed up in crop insurance to get these (benefits), and then you had to continue to be signed up for them for two years,” Burtrum said. “A lot of these programs have retroactive complications to them. You have to continue to be signed up, but annual forage is just one of the really good programs when you look at it.”
Click the LISTEN BAR below to hear KC Sheperd’s conversation with Clay Burtrum about what services Farm Data Services can offer for producers.
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