Usually, the process of developing budgets involves:
1. Describing the resources, inputs, and products for the farm or ranch. Some general sources of information that can be used for resource descriptions are described in the section “Sources of Data,” and in the other references cited in that section.
2. Describing how these resources fit together into an enterprise budget. This step is described after a discussion of the proper budget units (that is, sizing up the budget).
3. Calculating receipts and costs and preparing the enterprise budget reports.
4. Describing how the enterprises are combined in a whole-farm or ranch plan and preparing whole-farm or ranch reports.