We’ve waited for this for an entire year. The calendar has turned to March. The heat is rising. The anticipation is building. Days of fast-paced, frenzied fights to the finish are in store. There will be thrilling victories, agonizing setbacks, and surprising upsets that no one could have predicted. 

In case you’re wondering, I’m not talking about college basketball. I’m talking about spring planting. The other March Madness. For the most part, it won’t be televised (unless you count YouTube videos). There will be no screaming fans (unless you count your kids). And Dick Vitale will be nowhere near your soybean field, baby. But planting season is sure to bring just as much heart-pounding excitement as the NCAA tournament. 

When you stop to think about it, there are several similarities between the two events. For example, trying to predict how agricultural markets will play out in today’s world may seem just as impossible as selecting a winning bracket. (By the way, the odds of picking a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion.) We’ve all heard stories of people winning a bracket pool by flipping a coin for each game, and if we’re honest, sometimes the economics of farming require the same amount of luck. 

It’s hard to predict a hot streak. Weather apps are great, but Mother Nature will never be completely predictable. The odds of always finding the perfect planting window are about as good as a 16-seed making it to the Final Four. Sometimes things go cold, and you have to power through when the shots stop falling or the rain won’t stop falling. 

Farmers have to deal with their own kind of referees. They are called regulations. And you could make the argument that they cost the team the game sometimes. Anyone remember the out-of-bounds reversal that robbed Texas Tech of a Final Four overtime win in 2019? Let’s hope there are no bad calls made late in this planting season that will reverse farmers’ fortunes. 

Close margins? Sometimes the difference between a win and a loss is so small it can be measured in inches, hundredths of a second or cents on a dollar. Farmers know all about that. 

As we enter this crazy time of year, we want to say good luck to all the farm teams that are playing more than a game and will continue long beyond March. Thank you for what you do. Here’s hoping your crops peak at the right moment, your game plan is executed to perfection and you experience mostly victories this year. Take care of yourself, be safe, and don’t forget to use a timeout if you need one.