In an ever-changing market, you may have to rethink some of the goals that have served you in the past. Here are the first steps for creating an ag sales plan to future-proof your ag operation.

Determine Your Ag Sales Plan Objectives

There are numerous steps in creating a successful ag sales plan. Start by completing a SWOT analysis of your operation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).

Strengths

Your operation’s strengths might include the fertility of your soil, advanced ag equipment, or skilled labor. They also might include non-ag skills such as IT, public speaking, or accounting.

Weaknesses

Where do you have issues in your ag operation? Perhaps you are working with outdated farm equipment, managing high debt, lack soil fertility, or are uncertain about the crops that will have a market at harvest.

Opportunities

Opportunities will almost always feel uncomfortable because you’re looking outside your comfort zone. Opportunities may include new markets, different crops, available grants, or ag tech that could make your operation more efficient (but you’d have to learn how to use).

Threats

The ag sector is far too familiar with threats. Market fluctuations, unpredictable weather, pest invasions, are just a few on the long list of threats to the ag sector..

Be honest with yourself and identify the areas that cause you to stay awake at night. All challenges have solutions. Once you have identified a threat, for example, major market fluctuations, you can start to formulate a solution for your operation.

Make Your Objectives SMART

Yes, another acronym for you, but one of the most valuable to embrace for agricultural success.

Specific

Clearly define your objective. An example may be to intercrop cover crops in your corn fields to decrease weed pressure.

Measurable

The objective has to be trackable and measurable. If you’re adding cover crops, your objective may be to add a cover crop mixture to corn on 10 acres and test at regular intervals for success/failure of weed suppression.

Achievable

Set realistic goals. If certain weeds are rampant, consider it a success if they’re decreased, not eradicated.

Relevant

How do your objectives fit within the larger agricultural ecosystem? Are you aiming for sustainability and soil health as well as profitability?

Timebound

Your SMART objective should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. If you want to develop a process for using cover crops to suppress weeds, what timeframe are you giving this effort?

It can be harder to be SMART about some objective than others. It’s all about how you frame the objective. “Increasing soil fertility” is a great goal, but can’t be easily measured. If you get SMART about it and make your objective “increase soil microbiology by 10 percent in two years,” then you can start with soil tests and regularly test to determine if your practices are achieving your goals.

Setting clear objectives is crucial for effective ag management. This applies whether we’re talking about the soil, livestock management, or markets. Observe, analyze, and act is another way to put this. Define your problem, develop a research plan, collect data, analyze data, and act on findings.

Let’s be honest: nothing in ag is neat and tidy. Having a contingency plan for volatile markets often includes diversifying your operation. And that’s where opportunities lie. Continuously educate yourself on new ag practices, technologies, and market trends. You’ll be prepared to adjust your plans as conditions change, maintaining flexibility.

Avoid the Lure of Shiny Objects

Staying the course when things look dire is tough. A graph called the Transition Curve charts uninformed optimism (going up), informed pessimism (going down), and the crisis of meaning (why the heck am I doing this?). At the crisis point, we have to decide whether we give up (sell the farm) or start the climb back up the hill to sustainable agriculture with informed optimism.

At the crisis of meaning, we are lured by the shiny object or new tech or whatever is calling your name, away from the hard work of observing, analyzing, and acting. Developing a SMART framework for your farm or ranch helps you keep focused on what you want to achieve.

SMART Thinking and Your Ag Sales Plan

Some markets have smaller profit margins than others. It’s all in how you position yourself to take advantage of those different profit margins. You have to do the market research to discover how you could use your land more profitably.

Developing a comprehensive market plan that includes sales strategies, target customers, promotional activities, and distribution channels is a start. It’s empowering to know you have more than one option on your farm or ranch. This kind of market research isn’t done by many ag operators. Knowing all the market options puts you in an excellent position to pivot if weather or market conditions are unfavorable for your first choice crops.

Keep in mind that resources need to be allocated to marketing, analysis, and crop production. If you’re looking at markets you haven’t sold to in the past, you will have to navigate the Transition Curve. We advise you to start small with a crop or market you’re new to. Review what you’re good at (your strengths), what has worked in the past, and how those past practices have impacted your soil health.

In the long run, no amount of SMART thinking will make up for the degradation of the soil. Look at market trends, spread out the risk with multiple crops, and always be willing to innovate. The ag community has a reputation for coming up with innovative solutions.

ST Biologicals is a longtime member of the ag community, and we’re available to help our clients formulate their problems and work through solutions. This is the most exciting work we can imagine doing. We’re in the business of helping farmers and ranchers succeed at converting their land to the highest use possible. Contact our team to help you create your unique SMART objectives. We’re here to help you succeed.