Financial management. Being resourceful with the financial management of the operation means, first of all, being as ‘on top of’ your farm’s numbers as possible. It means making sure you have the pieces in place for a strong financial team – whether that’s within your operation or through advisors – to have a good bookkeeper, tax accountant and financial advisor. A great team gives you the best opportunity, as the leader, to have updated and accurate numbers when you need them. Another person on your financial team is your lender. Make sure you have a great lender that you can have a positive working relationship with – where both of you can bounce ideas off of each other and both are ultimately working toward the success of the operation.

Building efficiency. Once you have a good handle on your farm’s numbers, you can work to build greater efficiency into all areas of the operation. This is just another way to be resourceful and solve old problems in creative, new ways. Your farm may already be operating at a high level of efficiency, so it will take a judgment call by you as the leader as to whether or not additional efforts will produce enough of a return. If efficiency isn’t something you’ve optimized in the past, consider the areas where efforts will bring about the greatest potential return. See if there is a way to quantify these efforts before deciding whether or not to begin them.

Marketing plans. Another area where it can be helpful to expand ideas around being resourceful is the farm’s marketing. When it comes to the commodity markets, it can feel like there’s a great deal out of the farm leader’s direct control. Resourcefulness around marketing plans can make a big difference, though, when you focus on the factors that are within your control. Choosing to learn about and use different market tools, for example, is a resourceful move. Working with a knowledgeable market advisor to create individualized marketing plans for your operation is another one. Figure out how you’ll be resourceful when it comes to markets and marketing plans – because that’s what the market is going to require of farm leaders in 2023.