How are you planning to inspire, grow and improve your personal life and business in 2020 and beyond? Hear from two of your GreenStone Directors on their view from the board room and the tractor seat.
Failure to plan is planning to fail. I’m sure many of you have heard your coaches, teachers, or mentors say this many times. This holds true in our personal and professional lives. In the volatile markets we work with today, having a plan to deal with unexpected events is as important as ever.
When I think about planning for the future of my business, I like to separate my priorities into personal and professional, and I always start with family: What will this plan do for my family? How will this impact my business?
I always tell my sons, every year you should do something on your farm to make things easier. For us, a priority is finishing the installation of load cells and new control systems on our barns to have the ability to remotely manage some of our daily tasks.
Being more efficient with my time means I’m able to spend less time on daily tasks and more time analyzing and improving my system. Efficiency has also allowed me to realize a lifelong dream of becoming a private pilot. If you see a red and white plane above your farm, it could be me!
In today’s agribusiness climate, finance is as important or even more important than production. My time on the GreenStone board has educated me on many aspects of finance and accounting that I use on my farm to plan for the future. The last two years have been trying for me personally, however I am extremely excited to see what 2020 has planned for me and for our GreenStone members.
View Ed Reed's profile video: here.
I have found it difficult to get ready for Spring this year. It seems that all of the struggles of last year have left me a little less than excited to start the process all over again for 2020. We make changes and try to plan the best we can for the uncertainties of each growing season. Yet last year’s weather made it difficult for all of us to execute our plans and evaluate how the changes we made affected our farming operation. However, the process of planning and making improvements for the coming year must continue. It is important that we strive to make positive changes each year.
I have been spending time looking at opportunities to improve our farming operation by planting cover crops and growing crops for seed production. These exercises help me refocus and give me inspiration to try new things. Some of the opportunities will require big changes, while others mean just a few modifications to some things I am already doing. Either way, they are changes I believe will help improve our farming operation, and in the end will contribute to the profit of the business.
My time on the board at GreenStone has allowed me the opportunity to see how the business plan for the cooperative is formed and how changes are made to improve the cooperative’s efficiency. While the variables that influence the business plan are different from my farming operation, the planning process is the same. New opportunities are being evaluated and changes made to improve the value of the services provided to our members.
Making plans for the future is important whether following a good year or one we would like to forget. The truth is that all of us face uncertainties in our lives and farming operations. The cooperative is no different. Our goal is to work hard for the members to bring value to their operations. We hope to accomplish this goal by improving efficiencies and being there for our members as they improve their farming operations.
View Mike Timmer's profile video: here.
To view the article in the online 2020 Spring Partners Magazine, click here.
