As your farm operation has grown in size and complexity, you’ve probably noticed a few different things. One is that there’s much more business to manage. By that, I mean the work required of you on the business management side has probably increased.

Another thing you may have found is a difference in where you spend your time in the operation. Your farm’s growth – and the corresponding rise in business management needs that come with it – means that the leader’s focus turns more toward leading and managing the business rather than working ‘inside’ of it.

Production passion

Think of it this way: When you started your farming career, you probably spent the vast majority of your hours working on production, in addition to other tasks such as hauling grain, doing repairs around the operation, and other hands-on work.

Once you became the farm’s leader or started taking on more of a leadership role, your tasks probably also started to shift. As your responsibilities shifted more toward managing logistics, processes, or employees, where you spent your time changed too.

Some farmers might find this shift more challenging than others. This depends somewhat on where your passion lies – if you were initially drawn to farming because of the opportunity to produce a great crop, you might still feel very connected to the production side.

Getting things done

That can lead many farmers to feel like they aren’t really ‘doing anything’ unless they’re directly doing hands-on production work in their operation. They might even start to feel they’re spinning their wheels or never really accomplishing anything tangible when they spend time working on the business side of the operation – managing the farm’s finances, marketing, people management, etc.

That can feel frustrating, but it can help to make a shift in your thinking as a leader. When you find that a greater amount of your hours are spent working on the business and financial management, it’s time to ask this question: Where is my time as a leader spent in the most profitable way?

Time and money

If we say that time is money – and when you’re in business, it’s accurate to say that – then where the farm leader is spending their time is also where the farm is spending money, in a way. When the leader spends their time doing things that no one else can – like managing the farm’s finances, building relationships with lenders, advisors, landlords, planning for the farm’s future, developing employees – then they are creating unique value for the farm.

On the flip side, if the leader spends time on tasks that other people in the operation could readily complete – tasks that employees are already trained to do or could be trained to do – then the farm is ‘spending’ a lot more to get those tasks done due to the opportunity cost of the leader doing that versus an employee.

The key thing is to think about where your time as the leader is most valuable. Here are some examples of a few areas the leader’s time can make the biggest difference for their operation: financial management, managing and developing people on the farm, creating plans for the farm’s future, building and executing flexible marketing plans, building relationships with lenders, landlords, and other major stakeholders. What other areas would you add, based on your experience leading your operation?

How are you navigating this market?

Farmers have found that getting some third-party perspective from our market advisors has helped ease their minds. The advisors help farmer clients with planning and execution around marketing decisions and help keep them up to speed on the current rapidly-changing grain market situation – and how it impacts their operation.

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. Learn more about our market advisor programs and offerings at www.waterstreetag.com.