Budgets are simply a formal means of organizing relevant economic information to help make business decisions. Various types of budgets have been developed to address different management questions. Partial budgets are used to assess the impact on net income of a minor change in operations.

Enterprise budgets show the receipts, expenses and resource requirements associated with producing a specific product. Whole farm budgets project receipts, expenses and profit from all enterprises, the entire farm. Cash flow budgets show cash inflows and cash outflows, anticipating cash deficits or surpluses through the year. Enterprise budgets are particularly useful when evaluating the feasibility of an existing or potential new product. Receipts and expenses shown on enterprise budgets are commonly expressed on a per acre basis for vegetable crops. Putting information on a per acre basis allows for comparison across crops, across farms and across years. In addition, receipts and expenses are most often for a year, coinciding with the business reporting cycle.

Several websites offer a good starting point when developing crop enterprise budgets, including:

• New England Crop Budgets (See Farm Planning under Food & Farming Systems)
• Penn State Crop Budgets
• Ohio Enterprise Budgets
• Michigan Budget Estimates
• Virginia Horticulture Budgets
• Kentucky Vegetable Budgets (See Production budgets under Publications)

In addition to these specific sites, the National Agricultural Risk Education Library has a budget library which may easily be searched by commodity and geographic area. The home address is www.agrisk.umn.edu/.

As a final note, it is important to identify the author's assumptions about the means of production and marketing when examining an enterprise budget. These assumptions have a significant influence on the level of receipts and costs per acre. Enterprise budgets developed elsewhere will likely have to be modified to fit any New England situation.