{"id":11399,"date":"2017-02-09T23:38:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T23:38:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/?p=11399"},"modified":"2017-02-09T23:50:23","modified_gmt":"2017-02-09T23:50:23","slug":"potential-spreadsheet-automation-benefits-that-farm-businesses-need-to-succeed-betterpotential-spreadsheet-automation-benefits-that-farm-businesses-need-to-succeed-better-hint-insights-from-agribusi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/potential-spreadsheet-automation-benefits-that-farm-businesses-need-to-succeed-betterpotential-spreadsheet-automation-benefits-that-farm-businesses-need-to-succeed-better-hint-insights-from-agribusi\/","title":{"rendered":"Potential Spreadsheet Automation Benefits that Farm Businesses Need to Succeed Better [Hint: Insights from Agribusiness Research Survey Interview of Farm Industry Stakeholders]"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article features - and discusses (with charts) - responses to questions in an agribusiness research survey questionnaire I circulated a few years ago.<\/p>\n

The semi-structured questionnaire was used to solicit responses from farm owners, feed makers and extension experts. Some were buyers\/users of my\u00a0Excel-VB Ration Formulator\u2122<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CEOs of smallholder (fish, pig, and poultry) farm businesses make up 80% of respondents (30% of them own feed mills, to control feed cost\/quality), and 20% are farm support specialists.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

22.2% of those who formulate their rations use the Excel-VB driven Ration Formulator\u2122. Others use off-the-shelf software (11.1%), manual Excel workbooks (11.1%), and calculators (11.1%).<\/p>\n

\"sdn-agribizpapee-cht3a\"<\/p>\n

Over 75% of the respondents were 41 years old and above. At least 55.6% hold a University Masters degree; one is a PhD holder, and some also hold professional qualifications.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"sdn-agribizpapee-cht5b\"<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, all 55.6% say they always aim for least cost feed formulation. This suggests they are likely to adopt customizable Excel apps that quickly and accurately formulate rations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"sdn-agribizpapee-cht4\"<\/p>\n

Those who own feed mills will thus confidently formulate useful rations for themselves, and other farmers who come to their mills. Multiple benefits will thus accrue to the industry.<\/p>\n

\"sdn-agribizpapee-cht6\"<\/p>\n

55.6% buy commercial feed (from \"2 sources\" or \"anywhere they can find\"). 66.7% of that percentage says they their animals' performances vary noticeably with different sources of feed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"sdn-agribizpapee-cht2a\"<\/p>\n

Their farm output tends to fluctuate as a result - and that naturally bothers the farmers.<\/p>\n

Hen Day Percentage (HDP) data auto-charted - in September 2013 - by a custom Excel-VB software built for a layers farm in South West Nigeria<\/a>, appears to support the above.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the two farm managers were asked about a sharp downward slope of charted HDP data, over a one week period (from above 70% to between 55 and 65%), their checks revealed it coincided with their use - due to cash flow problems - of feed from a different supplier!<\/p>\n

Customizable Excel-VB driven tools can help such farmers consistently formulate their own feed to specification. More predictable livestock performance and reduced feeding expenses will occur, and ultimately lead to increased profits.<\/p>\n

\"sdn-agribizpapee-cht6\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Read:\u00a0One New Skill Modern Extension Professionals Need to Succeed<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article features - and discusses (with charts) - responses to questions in an agribusiness research survey questionnaire I circulated a few years ago. The semi-structured questionnaire was used to solicit responses from farm owners, feed makers and extension experts. Some were buyers\/users of my\u00a0Excel-VB Ration Formulator\u2122. CEOs of smallholder (fish, pig, and poultry) farm […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1375,133,266,1753],"tags":[2731,2732],"class_list":["post-11399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrepreneurs","category-excel-vb-solutions","category-farm-biz","category-my-dn-travel-news","category-the-farm-ceo","tag-hint-insights-from-agribusiness-research-survey-interview-of-farm-industry-stakeholders","tag-potential-spreadsheet-automation-benefits-that-farm-businesses-need-to-succeed-better"],"aioseo_notices":[],"views":745,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11399"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11409,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11399\/revisions\/11409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tayosolagbade.com\/sdnuggets\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}