Check in with your bookkeeper. Now is a good time to be checking in with whoever keeps the books for your operation. Whether it’s someone inside or outside your operation, find out where they’re at right now in terms of progress toward having financial information ready. Ask what they need from you, and what they still need from other people in order to have detailed reports ready. Then help clear the path for them to get that information in a timely way – this will ultimately benefit everyone as it helps make sure they have the information they need to do their job in the most accurate and time-sensitive way.

Schedule meetings with your advisors and lenders. Right now is also a great opportunity to get meetings set up with anyone who is involved in reviewing your farm’s business and financial information from 2023, and can provide help or input for 2024 plans. Get meetings scheduled with your farm’s financial advisors, market advisors, tax preparer, and your lenders. Depending on how you work with your farm’s outside team, these meetings may be separate or may involve multiple people at the same time. Arranging meetings with them now can help ensure you get the information and advice you need in the most timely manner to start clear 2024 plans.

Spend some time on your own or with farming partners. It’s a great idea to set up time for yourself and the other leaders in your operation (if any) to get together and talk about the upcoming year. You can start by doing a review of the 2023 crop year and results that are in so far. Discuss what went well this year, what changes were made or tried out, and how that all went. You can also talk about the aspects of the year that maybe didn’t go quite as expected and any particular challenges the operation dealt with in the year. Then, use that discussion as a springboard into talking about high-level plans for 2024. Getting on the same page with your fellow farm leaders will help chart the course when it’s time to work on detailed business, financial, and marketing plans for 2024.