The whole idea is to have at your fingertips information necessary for good decisions. Organize Compliance Information - for example, records and files of information required to comply with government regulations, income taxes, employee benefits, licenses and insurance policies. When you consider the investment you have in land, buildings and machinery, the small amount of money required to set up a farm office to manage that investment is rather insignificant. The costs of building and equipping an office may be treated as a business expense and claimed at a depreciated rate on your tax returns. If it's not completely used for business activities, then costs can be prorated to reflect the amount of business use.
Many producers prefer to have their office in the farm or ranch home.
Others may want to plan an addition to the existing farm home. Probably the two most important considerations are convenience and availability. If your office is too hard to get at, you won't use it as often as you should. Look for office space as close to the outside door as possible for easy daily access and easy rescue of records in case of fire. Many spouses prefer to have the office close to the kitchen if they are recording transactions and maintaining communications while the other spouse or business partner is performing production tasks.