What are financially strong farm operations doing differently?

This article distills the major findings from two studies of recent anonymous farm-level financial information from the Iowa Farm Business Association (IFBA). The first study gauges the extent of financial deterioration among Iowa farms between January 1, 2015 and January 1, 2016 (Plastina, 2016a). The second study identifies the factors associated with the capacity of farms to produce free cash flows to pay for family living expenses, cover depreciation, and re-invest in the farm business (Plastina 2016b).