Frye: How to anticipate better during planting season

If you’re a farm leader gearing up for planting season, you know there can be a lot of questions going into this time of year.

There are always questions about what weather will be like: Will the crop get in the ground quickly or will the season be more drawn-out? Will there be too much rain or not enough?

It’s true that there are certain things that aren’t in our control, like the weather, but as farm leaders, there are other things that are in our control. A great deal of that has to do with planning and preparing for the spring season.

Much of the preparation for planting is already complete, and some might still be in progress. Here’s one more thing to prepare as a leader: a mindset of anticipation.

Pivot Power

What does it mean to take a mindset of anticipation when it comes to planting season on the farm? Ultimately, it can mean the ability to pivot more quickly when a curveball happens.

This mindset involves thinking ahead of time about the main things that could impact your operation’s ability to achieve an optimal spring season.

It doesn’t mean trying to figure out every little scenario — which would be impossible — but it does mean taking some time to intentionally think about the major things that could be the most likely to throw plans off, unique to your operation.

Doing this now gives you some opportunities before the busy season kicks into gear. It enables you to make alternative plans and to know what you’d do if one of the scenarios were to happen.

Be Better Prepared

When something “different” does happen, whether you’ve thought about it specifically or not, your mind is already more flexible. That’s because you’ve already gone through the exercise of thinking in an agile way.

As a farm leader, creating a mindset of anticipation and flexibility ahead of time is key during a season such as planting.

Once you get into the thick of things, when planting is moving forward when there are optimal conditions, you don’t have as much time to think through a variety of possible scenarios.

Leaders simply must make the tough calls in the moment, which isn’t easy when there’s a lot on the line.

Set aside some time now to practice this yourself and to have other leadership team members or employees try it out for themselves, as well.

It can be a good exercise not only for those currently in a leadership position in the operation, but also to strengthen the problem-solving skills of everyone on the farm’s team.

Try It Out

Here are three ways to think about this for your farm operation:

• Consider curveballs. What are the things most likely to happen that would cause our farm to need to shift and change our plans this spring? No need to list out every single thing: just get the top, major ones down on paper or screen.

• Create alternative plans. What will your Plans B, C, D, E and so on look like? The more important the objective, the more that having multiple alternative plans will help you and help ease your mind, too.

• Find more flexibility. Try to think of ways to build more flexibility into your farm’s spring plans beforehand. This means creating agility around all aspects of your farm, including your “Plan A” ideal scenarios. Doing that will increase your operation’s chances of being successful.

Markets In The Spring

Just because farms are busy with planting in the spring doesn’t mean the grain markets stop moving. This spring, the commodity markets seem to be more volatile than ever due to a combination of factors.

If you’re a busy farm leader who’s even busier in the spring, consider working with our team of market advisers.

They help farmer clients with planning and execution around marketing decisions and help keep them up to speed on the rapidly-changing grain market situation and how it impacts their operation.