Peak Ag Radio

Do you ever feel like you are lagging behind in farming? It's a great place to be, right? "No, it's not!" It does feel bad, but I believe it gives you an edge…..an edge to experiment and be aggressive in changing things on your farm. If everything is OK, why change?  

Stressing? Up at 3:30 AM? Is the farm driving you and your family CRAZY?  It seems like agriculture has more than it's fair share of problems. Agree? So, should we discuss how to minimize the stress? Not here on Peak Ag! No, let's discuss how to think about our stress and see it as a learning opportunity.

Do you ever feel fear, discomfort or anxiety on the farm? "Almost every day!" Oh yea, I know what you are going though. Sometimes for me it is twice per day, like today.  Farming in the 21st century is full of dramatic swings in the market, technology that changes daily, competition from around the world and on and on.  So, what does a farmer do with all of this craziness?    

How much time do you devote or set aside for Strategic Farm Planning? None or very little?? (Me, too! Oh no!) Let me tell you though, I'm working on it. Strategic planning is basically thinking about the future, writing it down and talking about it with others. Many times we forget to do one of those keys steps. But all 3 are significant parts of strategic planning on the farm. All 3 are super important for farm growth next year. Want to expand acres? Want to increase margins? Want to work less than 60 hours per week on the farm? The answer starts with having a Strategic Plan.    

Are you increasing your farm efficiency by being intentional? Do you set a schedule and following it? It starts by taking the time to write out a plan. Various tools can be helpful in developing and following a weekly schedule.

Does hiring a new farm employee scare you? Does it keep you up at night? It should! There are a lot of 'crazies' out there. Neither of us need more 'crazy' on our farms…. right? Animal diseases, unpredictable weather, bugs, etc. are enough 'crazy' for a lifetime. This means we must hire the right folks…. but how?  

Does it ever seem that things will never improve? Well, I think that sometimes myself. Living in rural America and around agriculture all my life makes it easy to get into that rut. But, we all know thinking that leads NOWHERE. The 5% Farm Rule is a strategic thinking tool for improving your farm right where it is. Try it!   

Does the communication on your farm feel like a tornado?  Sporadic? Unpredictable? Messy? It does for me! It sure is tough to communicate well when it is 'go time' on the farm. But, it's almost ALWAYS go time on my farm. You too? However, as farm leaders that's a poor excuse. Good communication is our job.  

Where were your big farm breakthroughs? Everyone have specific decisions, events or circumstances that are game changers for your farm and for your growth. We have all heard….history repeats itself...right? This is true even on the farm!  So, I continue to see the value in learning about your family's history and your own farm history.

Travis Fieser grew up on a diverse farm in SW Kansas in the 80's and 90's. His great-grandparents started the farm in the 1920's. Through the help of his family and neighbors, Travis has been able to continue growing his farming operation over the past 10 years.      

Marc Voth, our Peak Ag guest, worked on his family farm at a young age, learning to appreciate the work and harvest of the bountiful land near Montezuma, Kansas. Currently Marc is the 4th generation owner operator of that farm. After attending Kansas State University he graduated in 2001 with a B.S. in Agronomy. Marc started the Both Crop Consulting in the spring of 2001 and is in his 16th season as an Independent Agronomist.  Marc is an active member of the Kansas Association of Independent Crop Consultants and currently serves as its president. Learn more about Marc or find his contact information below:  http://kaicc.org   http://kaicc.org/memsearch.cfm

What is your farm heritage? This is one thing rarely talked about on the farm, but is so important to KNOW. It is important to know the history of any farm or Ag organization. I actually knew very little about how my grandfather started everything until just a few years ago.    

Marc Voth, our Peak Ag guest, worked on his family farm at a young age, learning to appreciate the work and harvest of the bountiful land near Montezuma, Kansas. Currently Marc is the 4th generation owner operator of that farm. After attending Kansas State University he graduated in 2001 with a B.S. in Agronomy. Marc started the Both Crop Consulting in the spring of 2001 and is in his 16th season as an Independent Agronomist. Marc is an active member of the Kansas Association of Independent Crop Consultants and currently serves as its president. Learn more about Marc or find his contact information below:  http://kaicc.org http://kaicc.org/memsearch.cfm

Is 100% of the work on your farm done by you? I know we wish we could do 100% of the work on the farm. But it is impossible and inefficient to do it all. Growth minded farms and farmers always need to outsource jobs and projects. It is needed for growth on any farm. But how can we do it better?  

Have you thought about your 10X farm future? You have already done 10X multiple times in your life. Right? $1, $10, $100… and so on. But 10X is really a way of thinking. It forces you to think differently about opportunities, problems and scalable growth. You can think differently. I dare you to try to think 10X for 5 minutes.

What does a bigger and better future look like for you? Is it 10X? Do you think agriculture ‘has’ a bigger and better for you and your family? Is 10X even possible? I have doubted this many times. I certainly know farming has unique challenges when you start thinking about a better future.

Who is ‘your’ boss? Who do you answer to? Are you accountable to anyone? If your only accountability is to yourself, problems on your farm are in your future….MAJOR farm problems. We all need accountability. Whether we are the farm leader or the new guy, we all need accountability.

Do you have farm goals? Sometimes you hit them and some you don't. We usually set goals that are 50/50. I have done this for 7 years with moderate success on my farm. What could be better than a goal?

Are you down or depressed about your farm or agriculture in general? Farming lends itself to trouble. Exposure to nature in weather or disease and global commodity prices are almost completely out of our control. That is why we created Peak Ag.

Firing Farm Employees Is it time for you to fire someone on your farm? There are so many ways to do this – some bad and some good. Compassion and good communication are so important to letting a farm team member go.