Barn Books

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Budgets, loans and taxes for small farms

Barn Books

Track every business on your farm. Open one to plan what you expect to sell and spend. Whole Farm shows total cash flow by business, Loans tracks financed purchases, and Taxes estimates what you will owe or get back. New accounts start with example numbers. Replace them with your own.

Starter (free)

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Starter covers one business. The full version tracks every business on your farm, your loans and interest, whole-farm cash flow, and your tax estimate. Everything you've entered carries over.

Monthly

$15 a month
Cancel anytime

Yearly

$162 a year
Saves 10% over monthly

Total income
Operating costs
Loan payments
Cash flow after loans

Cash flow by business

Click a business to open its budget.

BusinessIncomeVariableFixedNet before loansLoan paymentsCash after loansPer unitShare of farm cash

Where the money comes from and goes

Each bar is one business. The top bar is income. The bottom bar is costs, split into variable and fixed.

Income Variable costs Fixed costs
Total borrowed
Payments this year
Interest this year
Interest over all loans

Financed purchases

Enter anything you bought on credit: equipment, buildings, livestock, land. Pick the business it belongs to and its payments are counted in that business's cash flow.

What you boughtBusinessPriceDown paymentRate %YearsPaymentsEach paymentTotal interest

Depreciation and loan payments are not the same thing

When you finance a tractor, two different numbers can show up in your budget, and both belong there.

Depreciation

The tractor wears out and loses value every year whether you owe on it or not. Depreciation spreads its cost over its useful life. It is a real cost of doing business, but no money leaves your account for it. You list it under fixed costs.

Loan payment

The check you write to the bank every month or year. Part of it is interest, which is a cost. The rest is principal, which is you paying back what you borrowed. Either way, it is cash leaving your account. This page adds it to your cash flow.

Why count both? They answer different questions. Net before loans tells you if the business is profitable over the long run. Cash after loans tells you if you will have enough money in the bank this year to pay your bills.

Example: a $15,000 tractor loan at 7.5% for 5 years costs about $3,600 a year in payments. If the tractor lasts 10 years, depreciation is about $1,500 a year. While the loan is being paid off, cash is tighter than profit suggests. After it is paid off, cash is better than profit suggests, because you still count depreciation but write no more checks.

Interest is usually tax-deductible, and depreciation has its own tax rules. Ask your tax preparer or farm lender how to handle your situation.

Payment schedule

How much of each year's payments goes to interest and how much pays down the loan.

YearPaymentsInterestPrincipalBalance left

Interest is a farm expense you can usually deduct. Principal is not an expense, but it still comes out of your cash, so this page counts the full payment. Rates are what you enter here; your lender's paperwork has the exact figures.

Estimate only, not tax advice. This uses 2026 federal brackets, the standard deduction and self-employment tax. It leaves out credits (like the child tax credit), itemized deductions, capital gains, local income taxes charged by some cities, counties and school districts, and many farm-specific rules. Use it to plan, then check with your tax preparer.

Sales and purchases

Log what actually happens through the year. Equipment and other big purchases are deducted in full the year you buy them, which most farms can do under Section 179 or bonus depreciation. If you log loan interest here, uncheck the loan interest box above so it isn't counted twice.

DateDescriptionTypeBusinessAmount

Using your budget plan: income from every business, all variable and fixed costs (including any depreciation you listed), and this year's loan interest if checked.

2026 tax estimate

Farm sales
Farm expenses
Equipment deducted
Loan interest
Net farm profit
Taxable income
Federal income tax
Self-employment tax
State income tax
Total tax
Already paid
Estimated amount due

Farmer rule: if at least two-thirds of your gross income is from farming, you can make one estimated payment by January 15, 2027, or skip it and file and pay in full by March 1, 2027, with no penalty.

Income

Your first line is your main product. Break-even price is figured on it.

ProductQuantityUnitPrice / unitTotal

Variable costs

Costs that go up or down with how much you raise: seed, feed, fertilizer, fuel, packaging, hired labor.

ItemCost

Fixed costs

Costs you pay whether or not you produce: depreciation, insurance, land rent, interest.

ItemCost

Season summary

Gross income
Variable costs
Gross margin
Fixed costs
Net before loans
Loan payments this year
Cash after loan payments
Variable Fixed Loans Cash left
Break-even price for
Break-even quantity at your price
Break-even includes loan payments for this business.

Net return here is before your own labor. Many farmers add a line for their hours at a fair wage to see if the enterprise truly pays.