I think farm leaders are the masters of getting things done. On any given day on the farm, farmers wear any number of different hats and different roles requiring many skills, ranging from agronomist to HR manager to operations manager to marketer – far too many to list here!

In any single hour of the day leading a farm, the farmer may have to shift between 10-20 different “roles” that they play on the farm – or maybe even more than that. It all depends on the complexity of the operation and what needs to get done.

This is why I believe farmers are the masters of getting it done, whatever “it” is! They have learned to do whatever the operation requires of them at that moment, especially if they’re the leader and ultimately responsible for the farm and its results.

Keeping it in front

Getting things done can come more easily when it’s something that you either love to do or feel that you’re very competent at that particular task or activity. It can become a bit more challenging at times to dig into something that’s either not your favorite thing to do, or something that you’re less familiar with or haven’t ever done at all.

Choosing to get those things done can seem like a tougher proposition. But it’s important when you’re the farm’s leader with a business to run to make sure it succeeds. There will be certain tasks or activities that will vary from leader to leader that tend to get put on the back burner.

Sometimes these tasks are the very same ones that will really help propel the success of the operation into the future, yet they can get pushed to the back burner. It might be that there are more pressing, urgent tasks that the leader must deal with first – and there are always going to be seasons when that needs to happen more often.

But when this continues to happen, these less-urgent, not “favorite” activities can go by the wayside altogether – yet if they are critical for farm success, they really need to get done. So how can farm leaders choose to get these things done, as well?

Three ideas

Here are three things to try to help make sure the hard things are getting done.

How are you navigating this market?

Farmers have found that getting some third-party perspective from our market advisors has helped ease their minds. The advisors help farmer clients with planning and execution around marketing decisions and help keep them up to speed on the current rapidly-changing grain market situation – and how it impacts their operation.

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