Center for Farm Financial Management

What Center for Farm Financial Management does

The Center for Farm Financial Management (CFFM) is an academic unit within the University of Minnesota's Department of Applied Economics, operating from 130 Ruttan Hall on the St. Paul campus. Established in 1984, CFFM develops farm financial management software, web applications, and educational programs that target agricultural producers (farmers and ranchers), agricultural and commercial lenders, extension and post-secondary educators, and ag professionals across the United States. The organization is publicly funded through the university system rather than investor-backed, and operates without disclosed separate revenue figures.

Its core product is FINPACK/FINPACK+, a credit management software for commercial and agricultural credit analysis offered both as installed desktop software and as a cloud-based SaaS solution (FINPACK+) supporting loan origination, compliance and approval workflows. Surrounding the core platform is a broad product surface including planning tools (AgPlan, AgTransitions, FairRent, My Market Profit, CropCost), information resources (FINBIN — described as the largest and most accessible farm financial and production benchmark database in the world; the FarmAnswers.org USDA-NIFA beginning-farmer clearinghouse; the Ag Risk & Farm Management Library with 1,000+ documents and 2,700+ crop budgets from 30+ states), and educational offerings (FINPACK Online Training, IFSaM, the Commodity Challenge grain-marketing game, and the book 'Grain Marketing is Simple'). Downloadable desktop tools (myFINBIN, Portfolio Risk Analyst, RankEm, FINPACK International) extend the installed footprint.

CFFM derives revenue from FINPACK software sales and subscriptions (both cloud SaaS and installed), FINPACK Training programs (online, in-person, and custom), workshop and conference participation (e.g., MN Crop Insurance Conference, 'Winning the Game' grain marketing workshops), and complementary educational product sales. The go-to-market is a hybrid of direct sales for institutional lender deployments, self-serve software downloads for producers and educators, plus channel reach via the University of Minnesota Extension network, the USDA-NIFA BFRDP clearinghouse role, and the four regional Extension Risk Management Education centers. Customer segmentation is horizontal across producers, lenders, educators and ag professionals, with lenders and ag professionals representing the most direct-paying enterprise segments.

Name

Center for Farm Financial Management

Legal name

Center for Farm Financial Management

Website

https://cffm.umn.edu

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CFFM is a University of Minnesota academic unit that develops FINPACK credit management software, farm benchmarking tools (FINBIN), and educational programs serving US farmers, agricultural lenders, educators, and ag professionals via cloud and installed software.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Farm Financial Management Software

NAICS

Activities Related to Credit Intermediation (5223)

SIC

Services-Consumer Credit Reporting, Collection Agencies (7320)

akta.pro primary industry

Pricing, Risk-Based Offer & Limit Management (FSAGAHAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Personal Financial Management & Budgeting (PFM) (FSAGAAAH), Banking, Credit & Lending (Underwriting, Credit Risk) (EDABAJAH)

Keywords

• Farm financial management
• Agricultural credit analysis
• Farm benchmarking software
• Agricultural lending software
• Farm business planning

Headquarters

HQ city

St. Paul

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. FINPACK Software Sales and Subscriptions: FINPACK is available as cloud-based SaaS (FINPACK+) and installed software. Revenue derived from software licenses, subscriptions, and potentially training/support services bundled with the software.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

CFFM develops and sells FINPACK/FINPACK+, a credit management software for commercial and agricultural credit analysis, available as cloud-based SaaS or installed software. The center also offers a suite of web-based planning tools (AgPlan, AgTransitions, FairRent, My Market Profit, CropCost), informational resources (FINBIN, Farm Answers, Ag Risk & Farm Management Library, Ag Lease 101), and online educational programs (IFSaM, Commodity Challenge, FINPACK Online Training) for farmers, lenders, educators, and agricultural professionals.

Product overview

The Center for Farm Financial Management develops a comprehensive suite of farm financial management products and educational tools. The core offering is FINPACK/FINPACK+, available as cloud-based SaaS or installed software, which serves as a complete credit management and financial analysis solution. Supporting this core platform are multiple planning tools including AgPlan (business planning), AgTransitions (succession planning), FairRent (land evaluation), My Market Profit (profitability analysis), and CropCost (cost analysis). Information resources include FINBIN (benchmarking database), Farm Answers (beginning farmer clearinghouse), Ag Risk & Farm Management Library, and Ag Lease 101. Educational offerings encompass FINPACK Online Training, IFSaM, and Commodity Challenge (grain marketing game). Additional downloadable software includes myFINBIN, Portfolio Risk Analyst, and RankEm.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• FINPACK: Flagship credit management software for commercial and agricultural credit analysis, available as cloud-based SaaS or installed software.
• FINBIN
• Farm Answers
• AgPlan
• AgTransitions
• FairRent
• My Market Profit
• CropCost
• Commodity Challenge

Products and services

• FINPACK/FINPACK+
• AgPlan
• AgTransitions
• FairRent
• My Market Profit
• CropCost
• FINBIN
• Farm Answers
• Ag Risk & Farm Management Library
• IFSaM (Interpreting Financial Statements & Measures)
• Commodity Challenge
• myFINBIN
• Portfolio Risk Analyst (PRA)
• RankEm
• FINPACK International
• FINPACK Training Programs

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• USDA-NIFA (Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCFFM's FarmAnswers.org serves as the national BFRDP clearinghouse, helping find information on specific topics and programs designed to help newer farmers and ranchers. CFFM works with USDA and other BFRDP projects to continually update resources.
• Extension Risk Management Education (four regional centers)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerExtension Risk Management Education program provides resources and education to help producers manage a wide range of risks. CFFM supports the four regional centers in many ways including maintaining the Ag Risk & Farm Management Library and ExtensionRME.org website.
• University of Minnesota (Department of Applied Economics)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCFFM is a unit in the Department of Applied Economics, part of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, and the University of Minnesota Extension.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Conservis: Conservis offers farm management software covering financials, operations, and inventory for row-crop and permanent-crop producers, overlapping with CFFM's planning and analysis tools for ag professionals.
• FBS Systems: FBS Systems provides farm accounting, financial management, and payroll software to agricultural producers and is the most direct commercial competitor to FINPACK in the U.S. farm financial management niche.
• EFC Systems: EFC Systems provides business management and accounting software for agricultural retailers and service providers — comparable to CFFM's lender and ag-professional-facing credit management offerings.
• Granular (Corteva): Granular, owned by Corteva, is a farm management platform serving large-acreage producers with financial, operational, and agronomic planning tools — a direct functional competitor in farm financial software.
• AgWorld: AgWorld provides farm management and financial planning tools for growers and advisors across multiple geographies, with comparable financial-planning and benchmarking functionality to CFFM's suite.
• Traction Ag: Traction Ag delivers farm-specific accounting and financial management software aimed at row-crop operations, directly competing with FINPACK+ for the same farmer and lender user base.

Broad incumbents

• Trimble Agriculture: Trimble Agriculture offers a broad farm management platform spanning precision agronomy, operations, and finance — overlapping with CFFM but as part of a much wider hardware-and-software portfolio.
• Climate FieldView (Bayer): Climate FieldView, Bayer's digital agriculture platform, integrates agronomic and farm-operations data at scale and increasingly touches farm financial decision support — adjacent but much broader than CFFM's credit-focused tools.

Emerging players

• Iteris ClearAg: Iteris provides agricultural data and analytics — including weather, soil, and crop intelligence — that increasingly feeds into farm financial decisioning, making it an emerging adjacent peer to CFFM's benchmarking work.

Others

• AgManager.info (Kansas State University Extension): AgManager.info is another land-grant extension economics site offering farm financial benchmarks, crop budgets, and marketing tools — thematically similar to CFFM's FINBIN and Ag Risk Library but without a SaaS credit product.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/center-for-farm-financial-management

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Center for Farm Financial Management