Someone asked me about ways to cut down paper in the farm office.  The question wasn’t posed by an environmentalist, but rather by a farmer with an office that had been overtaken by clutter.   There were too many old farm records, catalogs, invoices, and receipts to fit in file cabinet.   

I gave the question some thought and I decided that this would be a great topic for lots of old and new farmers.   

I know some of you are computer shy, but let me start by reminding you that the US farmer is the best trained, most educated, farmer in the world. They use the highest tech equipment/machinery (most with GPS), grow genetically modified crops, turn on irrigation pivots from cell phones, track live and approaching weather through the internet, market their crops/livestock through sophisticated indexes, and some are even making use of RFID.   

With that being said, we are technology savvy group, but most of us haven’t reassessed the farm office since we bought our first computer and loaded it up with Farmfacts.

I’ve come up with the following 9 technology tips that will help reduce paper usage in your farm office and get your operation more organized and efficient.   

Tips for Cutting Paper Usage in your Farm Office 

1)       Catalogs: Ask your vendors to email you electronic versions of whatever they are trying to sell.  If they have a catalog, they have a digital version that they can email. (by the way, you will be doing them a favor by saving production and mail costs)  -Estimated Cost = FREE 

2)       Printer: Unplug the printer.  Put it on the other side of the room.  Connect it when you need it.  –It will be a hassle I know.  That’s the point. You will only use it when you need it. -Estimated Cost = FREE 

3)       Faxes: Get an eFax account.  All faxes will be re-roughed to your email. (don’t print your faxes unless they need to be signed and returned)  -Estimated Cost = $20 per mo 

4)       Receipts: Buy a receipt scanner.  They are small, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive. Here is an example of one with a pretty neat demonstration: http://www.neatreceipts.com/getorganized?gclid=CJWXqaGcopMCFSUqagodDDn9nw -Estimated Cost = $200 

5)       Invoicing: Use Electronic Invoicing.  PayPal is pretty simple and works great. Quickbooks also offers an integrated online bill pay solution that is very slick.  (yes, you will loose 3% or so on credit card fees, but keep in mind that you will get your money faster and have less paperwork to track. –good things come with a price.) -Estimated Cost = N/A 

6)       Bill-Pay: Ask anyone and everyone that you pay bills to, if they offer an “electronic payment solution.” (some call it electronic bill-pay) If you are dealing with a smaller company, ask them to send you a PayPal invoice via email.  -Estimated Cost = FREE 

7)       Software: Use Farm Management Software to do your record keeping and accounting.  Check out: http://www.123farmworks.com . The software links your accounting info to your field, livestock, maps and GPS data if you are doing precision farming. -Estimated Cost = N/A 

8)       E-Statements: Ask your bank, co-op, Credit Card Company, lenders, insurance companies, fuel provider to send e-statements to your email instead of paper statements. -Estimated Cost = FREE 

9)       Purchases: Stop writing checks and start using a debit card that draws from your checking account.  All your expenses will be shown on 1 monthly statement. -Estimated Cost = FREE 

(Also see PC Magazine tips cutting paper usage in any business: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2279360,00.asp)

If you spend a little time getting set up, your farm office will become more organized and efficient and there will be far less clutter.  Good luck!
 

Alex Tiller

http://blog.alextiller.com