As we get closer to the start of planting season, I hope you’ve taken some time to plan out goals for the 2023 crop year. If you haven’t done so yet, this is basically your last chance to sit down with your farming partners and advisors and get clear about what success will look like for your operation in 2023 – and what goals are going to get you there.

Getting clear

Another very important piece when it comes to your farm goals is knowing why you’ve chosen a particular goal for your farm. Farm leaders must be very clear in their minds about why they want to work toward a certain goal.

Otherwise, when the going gets tough or there are challenges or setbacks along the way (which for any big worthwhile goal, there will be!), it could be tempting to create any number of reasons why the goal isn’t going to be achievable or why you’re thinking about setting it aside.

Knowing all the reasons why each goal is critical and important to your farm’s success and to where you want your operation to be headed is key. Also knowing exactly how each goal contributes to that overall picture of success is another key piece for full commitment. Each goal will ideally support the bigger vision in its own unique way.

Plan it out

If you’ve already set goals for 2023, set up another meeting now with your farming partners and advisors. Take some carved-out time before the busyness of planting season to talk through why each goal is important – and connect that with how each goal will help achieve the bigger picture of success in 2023 for your operation.

You might make a list of ‘whys’ under each major goal, followed by how you and others in your operation will execute activities and tasks to make it happen this year. This planning session can help everyone create a road map to the specific actions they will take each month, each week, and even down to the level of the day-to-day.

Without this type of detailed planning, it could be very easy to set up big goals for the crop year, set them aside when things get really busy operation-wise, and then recall them later when progress toward one of the goals isn’t happening, or is even going in a different direction than what you intended.

You might consider setting up smaller goals or shorter-term milestones to help you and your team ensure that gradual progress is being made month to month on the biggest goals. Set up tangible stopping points or dates when it would make sense to take a minute to review progress. That can really help keep everything on track toward the goals – and ultimate success – you want to achieve in your operation.

2023 markets

Have you set up marketing goals for 2023? Now is the right time to be creating marketing plans for this year and beyond. A market advisor can help with providing education, marketing tools, and market planning for your unique operation and your future goals.

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.

Get a free two-week trial of our marketing information service (MarketView Basic). Your free trial includes regular audio and video updates, technical analysis, recommendations and more. Learn more about our market advisor programs and offerings at www.waterstreetconsulting.com.