Right now is a great opportunity to set some goals for the new year. You may have already started on business plans and goals for your farm operation. Maybe you’ve even written them out as part of a larger operating plan for the year.

Here’s another big piece of the puzzle when it comes to your farm’s success in 2024: You. While most of the focus is typically on goals and business plans for the farm operation in the new year, you as the leader and CEO of your farm play a major role as to how those goals and plans will unfold in your operation.

Highly influential

Because you’re the farm’s leader and coordinator of all the tasks and activities that take place in it, you are in the seat of greatest influence. And the more you bring to your farm in terms of your leadership skills – think business planning skills, employee management and development skills, and so on – the farther your operation can and will go toward business goals.

The greatest investment that you can make is in your own personal and professional development. Investing in developing yourself as a farm leader this winter will pay you back in multiple ways.

Since your employees and family members on the farm look to you to learn what’s important and valued in the operation, they will also learn to place high value on further developing their own skills and abilities, which they then bring to their work.

The journey begins

So what might your leadership journey look like in 2024? That starts with considering what type of leader you want to be. What leadership skills does your current operation require from you? What leadership skills will it require from you in the future?

Think about how the needs of your operation are going to shift and change over the next 5-10 years. This will likely be related to your goals and business plans for your farm during that time period.

Maybe you’ll be stepping into the head leadership role during that time or moving toward your very first leadership role. What can you plan to work on during 2024 to prepare yourself to best step into that role with greater confidence? What will the other people on the farm need from you in that new role?

Professional development

Next, what types of personal and professional development activities will best help you prepare to step into a more involved leadership role? Think first about how to play up your strengths.

Maybe you bring a great deal of agronomy knowledge to the operation from a past job or schooling. Consider building further on that knowledge this year and also working to teach a promising employee or future leader. Doing this shares your skills and helps spread them to be used more widely on the farm.

You can also consider any areas where you can develop your leadership skills where you might not have done a deep dive yet. Maybe that means working with your lender more closely as a partner and teacher to get more comfortable with financial terminology and better understand how the bank looks at your farm’s finances. Maybe it means working with a market advisor as a trusted partner to learn more about different marketing tools and how to use them as part of your plans.

Whatever you decide, put your goals and action steps in writing to help keep you on track toward leadership progress in the new year. Happy 2024 – and here’s to becoming the best leader you can be!

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.

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.waterstreetag.com.