The theme for this year’s Farm Futures Summit is ‘Unlock your Competitive Advantage & Prepare for the Future.’ In my 20-plus years of working with farmers and landowners, the most successful ones are those who do just this, proactively plan the future.

There are multiple planning phases and enterprises involved with every family farm operation. The most common we think of is the production side and putting together our crop program to maximize yields. Many operations are working with their agronomists and crop input suppliers on this now. Then, there’s the risk management side by protecting your investment with such tools as crop insurance and other programs now available. Of course, then there’s the dreaded marketing side to lock in revenue at profitable levels in an ever-so volatile commodity market.

These are all topics you’ll have the opportunity to learn and share with your peers and other industry experts at this year’s Summit to be held in Coralville on January 19^th-21^st. I also encourage you to think bigger when it comes to the future of your farm operation and what will be your competitive advantage?

Check out the agenda for other sessions being offered addressing other phases of your operation and potentially new enterprises to consider in the future. I’m excited to offer two of these break-out sessions to share real life stories of farm operations I’ve worked with and what their competitive advantage has been. These sessions include:

Cash or cash flow?

What is king? Is cash or cash flow more important in your farm operation? I admit, this will be the first time I present on this topic but excited to do so. I believe this to be an important topic and one which comes up in almost every family farm I consult with.

Who packs your farm transition parachute?

Who is your team of farm advisors? In this session I will not only share estate planning and farm transition strategies, but also discuss what team of advisors we see most successful farm operations work with and implement into their team.    

You can participate in this year’s Boot Camp and Summit both in-person or virtually. Check out the registration page and use my 20% discount code: MIKE22

Downey has been helping farmers and landowners for the last 21 years with their family farm transition, estate planning, leasing strategies, finances, and general land consultation.  He is the co-owner of Next Gen Ag Advocates and an associate of Farm Financial Strategies.  Reach Mike at [email protected].