A Two-Tiered Benchmarking Analysis for Cost Management

The ability of operators and managers to benchmark farm performance with those in their region is a great starting point for cost management. This study expands on the traditional one-tier stratification of farm-level data and uses a two-tier approach using farm income and expense allocation as categories of performance. Farm managers, consultants, and landowners can utilize this framework to provide more insights and management opportunities for their self or their clientele. More specifically, they can identify expenditure characteristics and the capital allocation of the top managers for benchmarking against their own operations.