Monthly Archives: December 2014

Family Systems and Farm Business

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Emotional Anxiety, Entanglement, Conflict…finding a Family Leader, Neutrality and Coach-ability. These were the concepts discussed at a December training for Farm Viability business advisers provided by Erik Thompson ( http://www.thompsonleadership.com/ ). Dr. Murray Bowen described the natural emotional processes that shape how families and social units function. Bowen Family Systems Theory provides valuable concepts for farm families and farm business advisers seeking to advance common family goals and aspirations in a productive way. It is not easy! Some of the highest risk forms of chronic anxiety in a family system manifest themselves in forms of avoidance and “over-tolerance of irresponsible behavior.”

To move past that, families and family coaches need to test their own emotional maturity to promote the best outcomes. Family leaders will develop , according to Bowen ” ….with the courage to define self, who is as invested in the welfare of the family as in self….whose energy goes to changing self rather than telling others what to do….”

Family coaches and  business consultants work to establish emotional neutrality and emphasize coachability from their clients. For more on Family Systems click this link to the Vermont Center for Family Studies :   http://www.vermontcenterforfamilystudies.org/

You can also check out trainings for Social Sustainability on Farms training programs through Northeast SARE: http://www.uvm.edu/~vtsare/?Page=projects.html&SM=submenu.html

Milk Prices Dropping: New MPP Deadline Dec 19th

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The USDA has extended the application deadline for the Dairy Margin Protection Program to December 19th. Milk price forecasts are showing significant decline in prices over the next several months.

Bob Parsons, University of Vermont Ag Economist, has shared these figures below that show the probability of margins dropping below various coverage levels….

“From the table below, the % numbers are the probability of return over feed cost dropping below the amount on the left hand column.  For example while the expected return over feed costs for March-April is $8.52, the probability of it dropping below $7 is 18% and 10% chance of dropping below $6.50. Remember that in the past that when milk prices drop, they tended to drop further than the markets predicted.”

Margin Level Nov-Dec 2014 Jan-Feb 2015 Mar-Apr 2015 May-Jun 2015 Jul-Aug 2015 Sep-Oct 2015 Nov-Dec 2015 Jan-Feb 2016
Expected $12.91 $9.20 $8.52 $8.64 $9.18 $10.13 $10.12 $9.79
< $8.00 – 13% 39% 39% 30% 15% 21% 29%
< $7.50 – 6% 28% 29% 21% 10% 15% 23%
< $7.00 – 2% 18% 20% 15% 6% 10% 17%
< $6.50 – – 10% 12% 10% 3% 6% 12%
< $6.00 – – 5% 7% 6% 1% 4% 8%
< $5.50 – – 2% 4% 3% 1% 2% 5%
< $5.00 – – 1% 2% 2% – 1% 3%
< $4.50 – – – 1% 1% – – 1%
< $4.00 – – – – – – – 1%