ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service

800-346-9140 (English)
800-411-3222 (Español)

ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
P.O. Box 3657
Fayetteville, AR 72702

ATTRA Question of the Week

Can you direct me to some resources for finding financial analysis information for a value-added food processing enterprise?

A.L.
Iowa

Answer:
You had asked about sources of financial analysis information (cash flow, breakeven, pro forma) for a value-added food processing enterprise.

As far as templates, here are some good ones. The Canadian one at
www.agf.gov.bc.ca/busmgmt/budgets/value_added.htm is especially good as it features some sample enterprises.

Some others can be found here:
www.agr.gc.ca/ren/index_e.cfm?s1=cfbas-sceac&s2=pave-pepva&page=feas-fais
www.fapc.okstate.edu/PAGES/economics.html
http://kaic.psu.edu/resources/EvalFeasibilityValAdEnt.pdf (PDF/752 KB)
www.cias.wisc.edu/archives/2005/05/19/specialty_foods_enterprise_budget/index.php
www.agmrc.org/agmrc/business/startingbusiness/businessplanninglinks.htm#samplebusinessplans
www.bplans.com/Sample_Business_Plans/Farm_and_Food_Production_Business_Plans/Salsa_Manufacturer_Business_Plan/executive_summary.cfm

As far as actual financial information, naturally, that is harder to come by. At www.cfap.org/afs_temp3.cfm?topicID=275, you can find some financials on shared-use kitchens.

This project, focused on value-added dairy, collected financial and production information from existing value-added producers:
http://research.cals.cornell.edu/entity?home=6&id=16256
http://aem.cornell.edu/research/researchpdf/rb0607.pdf (PDF/1.46 MB)

Here is some more on dairy: http://jds.fass.org/cgi/reprint/90/5/2506.pdf

Here is a study from K-State on profitability of various food and agribusiness firms:
http://www.agmanager.info/agribus/econissues/mf2487.pdf (PDF/95 KB)

The info at www.ibiblio.org/farming-connection/foodsys/addval.htm#summaryD
may be useful.

This is actually a Finnish study entitled "How do small rural food-processing firms compete?" but I think it is useful:
http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/maa/talou/vk/forsman/howdosma.pdf (PDF/2.92 MB)

Posted: June 25, 2007

About the Question of the Week

Each "Question of the Week" is an actual research query submitted by a farmer or rancher and answered by an Agriculture Specialist from the USDA-funded ATTRA program, managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology.

For more information on sustainable agriculture, visit our "Publications and Resources" pages (located in the upper-left navigation area of the page), where you will find ATTRA publications and additional Web links.

Want to ask your own sustainable agriculture question? Then Ask a Sustainable Agriculture Expert.

ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service is managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and is funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. Visit the NCAT Web site for more information on our sustainable agriculture projects.

Site Map | Comments | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Webmaster