@article{Higgins:134116,
      recid = {134116},
      author = {Higgins, Elizabeth},
      title = {Whole Farm Planning: A SURVEY OF NORTH AMERICAN  EXPERIMENTS},
      address = {1998-05},
      number = {889-2016-65150},
      series = {Policy Studies Report No. 9},
      pages = {74},
      year = {1998},
      abstract = {Farm planning has been championed by land
grant  universities and the Extension Service since the turn of  the century.
The predominant focus of early planning  efforts was on improving the
farmer's management skills and  the farm's natural resources, especially
soil. Some farm  planning experts achieved legendary status, as the  simple
application of sound physical, biological and  financial production principles
they espoused allowed many  farms to endure the bad times and prosper
during the good  times.
As farmers and ranchers approach the. new  millennium, the
rewards for effective planning have risen  and extend beyond the farm.
Heightened competition, less  commodity program support, and robust public
demand for  clean water and air are pushing operators to manage  their
natural and other resources with even greater care.  The joining of economic
and environmental requirements has  spawned a new era in farm planning.
Operators must not only  find ways to keep the cost of production
low by conserving  farm resources, improving their management skills,  and
identifying new crops and markets, but, increasingly,  reduce pollution that
travels beyond the farm's boundary.  Simultaneously, the explosion of low
cost information  technologies spurred by the electronic revolution makes
new  planning resources, such as powerful home computers,  digitized maps,
and Internet access, accessible that were  unfathomable a few years ago.
These broader requirements,  coupled with the improved technology, has
expanded interest  in a concept called "whole farm planning (WFP),concept that  includes all fann operator goals, farm resources, and  the
environmental effects of production on and off the  fann.
Whole Farm Planning: A Survey if North Amencan  Experiments
is the first of two reports that describe the  key features of nine WFP experiments
in the us and Canada.  This report briefly describes each of the
efforts to draw  implications for public policy that will allow WFP to reach  its
full potential in helping fanners satisfy their  personal goals while protecting
the environment for others.  The findings in this report display a rich diversity
of WFP  approaches. The second (forthcoming) report will provide  more
extensive detail on each of the approaches as well as  contact information.
The two reports are the first major  survey and analysis of WFP efforts. The
Henry A. Wallace  Institute does not advocate one approach over another.
It  does, however, advocate the development of mechanisms, such  as WFP,
that bring all benefits and costs of farming into  operator decisions so that
long tenn societal welfare can  be enhanced.
Partial funding for this study was provided by  The Pew Charitable
Trusts. The report's contents and  conclusions, however, are solely the
responsibility of the  author and the Wallace Institute.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/134116},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.134116},
}