Put your farm operation’s root system down first

When you think about your farm operation and why you want to work to make it successful, what first comes to mind?

You might think about how you want to create a successful operation to perhaps one day bring in the next generation.

You might think about how the farm is part of the legacy you want to create in the world. Maybe it’s about putting in hard work and seeing the results come to fruition.

But what about getting to see progress in how your farm is changing and adapting? Is that part of your why to continue working toward success?

The Greatest Motivator

I believe that for the most successful farm leaders out there, personal and professional progress is part of the reason they work hard each day to develop a great operation.

Watching something progress and change for the better, whether that’s your farm operation as a whole or yourself as a leader in terms of personal and professional growth, is a “full circle” type of motivation.

What I mean by that is progress builds upon itself and in turn motivates further efforts that then create additional progress. The truth, however, is that growth and progress are not a linear project.

Growth sometimes seems slow, sometimes feels rapid and at times it can even feel like things are going in the opposite direction than we want them to go.

Underneath the surface, though, is often where the true growth is happening, just like when the plant hasn’t emerged from the soil yet because it’s putting down a strong root system first.

The “underground” work is actually the most important work of all because it lays the foundation for the above-ground section that can seemingly appear out of nowhere.

Reaching For Results

All that time, growth was indeed happening underground. It just wasn’t visible to anyone else yet.

Often, it can feel the same way when we’re working on a major project for our farm operation or in our own leadership development. We can start to feel that because there aren’t any outward “results” yet we aren’t making any progress.

Yet that’s actually when the most important work is happening and also why growth seems so rapid once it does appear on the outside where others can observe it, as well.

The key is making sure that you recognize the underground progress that’s being made and not become discouraged as you do that hard work in the trenches.

Maybe right now that looks like preparing marketing and financial plans and putting processes in place.

Business growth, professional and leadership development and corn plants all require a strong, foundational root system first, long before the above ground results are clearly visible to others.

It’s important to encourage both yourself and others in the operation if you find yourself or your operation in that underground type of season.

Plant ‘23

Spring is a time of excitement on the farm as preparations for planting intensify. As temperatures begin to start warming, so does the level of enthusiasm and excitement of those on the farm.

There are many positive feelings happening on the farm in the springtime, but there’s also another less-talked-about feeling around: uncertainty. Going into the spring, there can be a great deal of uncertainty around many aspects.

There’s a difference between acknowledging the fact that, yes, there are many unknowns about the upcoming crop year versus having anxiety develop about those unknowns.

The first approach allows farm leaders to clearly separate out what they can personally control from what they cannot. Then, the leaders can choose to work on the aspects that are within their control and to let go of the ones that aren’t.

Here are three questions to ask yourself:

1. What are my top concerns about the 2023 crop year?

2. What can I have the greatest impact on, that has the biggest impact on my farm?

3. Where am I going to take action first?

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