Know your operation’s current situation inside and out. Part of your response to challenges depends on how well you know your operation. This means both with regard to production and the business side. Having a strong, frequently updated grasp of both of these can take some work as a leader, but it is time well spent. It gives you a better foundation – from there, you can work to make decisions that are going to be best for your operation, because you know its unique needs. This means having a strong understanding of your farm’s current financial situation and needs, as well as a marketing plan that can respond and adapt to the current market situation and the needs of your operation.

Think thoroughly about some of the scenarios you could encounter. Looking ahead through the crop year to consider potential situations and decision-making points is a smart idea. While you aren’t going to know exactly what your particular challenging scenario is going to look like, you can still think through what you could be running into – as well as some of the different ways you could respond and address the challenge.

Build a positive, resilient mindset about challenges. No one can control exactly what happens to their farm operation, but what we can control is how we choose to respond to what happens to us and to our business. Practicing resilience in the minor challenges we encounter each day as human beings is a good opportunity to build such a mindset. Then we can call upon that mindset when we really need to dig deep to face a major challenge in our operation.