Happy New Year!

Now that the last Christmas cookie is eaten and the holiday decorations are put away, it’s time to get working on your New Year’s resolutions.

Because I’m not very good at keeping resolutions I make for myself, I thought I would write a few for you to follow in 2025. I think that falls in the category of “those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach” — or something like that.

The new year is a great time to get your act together and tackle issues you have delayed handling. Here are four resolutions you will want to make and keep in 2025:

1. Communicate goals. Take a full day away from the farm in January to discuss with family members involved in the operation what your goals are for the new year. In other words, communicate!

Often, farm families are too busy to sit down and discuss their goals — especially at the farm where you can be interrupted by phone calls, visits from salespeople and other situations that require your attention. Schedule a daylong meeting off the farm in a relaxing setting such as a hotel or conference center.

Have everyone involved write down their goals for the farm. Then ask them to write down five- and 10-year goals.

Take time to discuss the goals as a group and write down what the group’s goals are for the farm. This is how everyone can get on the same page about machinery purchases, taking time off and financial goals.

Related:2024 was good for some farmers, bad for others

 2. Figure cost of production. Speaking of financial goals, you should know your cost of production. Knowing your cost of production, good or bad, is the first step in managing costs. As we continue to experience low profit margins, knowing your cost of production may be difficult to figure out, but that doesn’t make it less important.

If you need help figuring your cost of production, contact your county Extension agriculture educator for more information.

3. Make a bookkeeping plan. Get your bookkeeping done more quickly to take advantage of year-end tax planning opportunities next December. Devise a plan now to deal with paperwork. Have a fixed place where all paperwork is organized. Some farmers have an office where they keep farm paperwork separate from everything else.

Pick a day of the week — say, Wednesday — to sit down and go through paperwork, organize it and keep it from piling up.

Develop a simple filing system whereby you place all bills together that need to be paid but in order of priority. Bills that need to be paid first should be placed on top.

There is a variety of online farm management software available that makes it easier to create and maintain farm records. If your records are up to date next December, you will be ready to take advantage of year-end tax planning opportunities.

4. Plan for the future. Make this the year you begin planning your estate or transitioning the farm to the next generation — or revisit your plan if you’ve already started this process. The primary goal in farm succession planning is the transfer of management, and eventually ownership, of the family farm to the next generation.

Usually, the parents form a limited liability company, which then owns the farm personal property and often the primary building site. Sometimes they also form an LLC to own all or part of the farm’s land base.

The parents then gift or sell a minority interest in the entity to the children actively involved in the farm. Gifts of “earned equity” are most common, as the farm needs to continue reinvesting its cash flow.

Good luck with your resolutions!