Characteristics of good farm planning
It is difficult to standardize the farm plan because of many combinations of the factors of production. But, specific criteria can judge the quality of a farm plan. The main characteristics of a good farm plan are
- The plan should aim at the efficient utilization of all the available resources on the farm. The family and hired human labor should be appropriately distributed to ensure more yield from farm enterprise. Enough power and machinery should be kept on the farm to do work timely.
- Plans should be flexible, i.e., they should be adaptable to changing environmental conditions.
- Farm plans should be simple and easily understood. Complex plans consume much time and money. A farm plan should consider the most essential suitable farm enterprises, identifying their strengths and weaknesses.
- Farm plans should ensure a balanced production program considering the available resources on the farm. The production program food crops, commercial crops, and fodder crops.
- The production program included in the farm plan should aim at maintaining improving soil fertility. This is possible through suitable crop rotation practices.
- Farm plans should facilitate the efficient marketing of farm products.
- Farm plans should take into account up-to-date technology.
- A farm plan should consider the goals, knowledge, training, and experience of the farmers.
- Farm plans should avoid too risky an enterprise.
- Farm plans should consider the activities of borrowing, using snd repaying the credit.
Alternative farm plan
A farmer should be helped to develop his plan according to his resources and judgment. He considers various alternative strategies and chooses the one that will fit well in the existing farm resources. Capital is a scarce resource. The probable deficit that would result from its use under the plan should be calculated. Drawing the farm map under the new plan will fill up the details regarding the coming system, relations, acreage under each crop, contoured crop, source of irrigation, etc.