What comes to mind right away when you think about the word opportunity? Think specifically in terms of your farm operation and your role in leading it into the future.

The ability to identify opportunity and make decisions about what to pursue and invest in is an important role of the farm’s CEO. It’s one of the key jobs that is unique to the CEO/leader role.

Start here

What do farm leaders need to do and be aware of when it comes to opportunity for their operation – and how to evaluate those opportunities? It starts with knowing and being able to clearly describe where your operation is headed – what’s most important and what’s not. It means getting very clear on values, priorities and goals for the operation.

Getting that clear view of the future vision for the operation is how you can know whether or not an opportunity is in line with where you’re trying to go. It’s the standard and road map you can use when an opportunity that seems like a good possibility comes up.

Think about an opportunity to purchase land that comes up in your area, for example. Some questions to ask at that point would be whether there are acreage growth goals for your operation at this time – or not. That’s the first question. Then – if growth is something the farm is pursuing – it’s time to crunch the numbers as to whether the financials appear to be right for the overall operation as well.

Evaluating opportunities

Here are a couple more points to consider when it comes to identifying and evaluating opportunities for your farm operation.

Markets in mind

Grain marketing is one area of the farm operation where watching for opportunity is key. Do you have a marketing plan for this year that will help your operation take advantage of opportunity in the market?

Our market advisors partner with and bring education around different marketing tools. They also help farmer clients with planning and execution around marketing decisions.

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. Or learn more about our market advisor programs and offerings at www.waterstreetconsulting.com.

The opinions of the author are not necessarily those of Farm Futures or Farm Progress.