You sat down and really hammered out a plan for farm profits in 2025. It’s all down on paper, but much of your plan is still in your head. Now’s the time to discuss your plans for 2025 with your crew and make sure everyone’s on board.
This is especially critical if this is the year you’re trying cover crops for the first time, or no-till, or a crop you’ve never grown. You can’t assume the rest of the crew has taken the time to research all your options like you have. Here are six steps to get everyone on board and keep them engaged for the entire 2025 growing season.
#1 Train Your Team
Every year brings new challenges. Why should this year be any different? If you’re implementing new ag practices or growing different crops than usual, explain what you expect from the changes you implement and what you expect your crew to do to make those changes a success.
If you’re implementing no-till, for example, make sure everyone knows that. Don’t assume your part-time seasonal workers won’t just get on the tractor and disc the fields, as you’ve asked them to do that every year in the past.
#2 Monitor and Evaluate
Whenever you make a change to your operation, there are unexpected consequences, both positive and negative. Keep track of your successes and identify areas for improvement in a farm journal.
You can easily remember the habitual day-to-day of what you’ve been doing, and the outcomes, for years. It’s harder to keep track of the soil health, plant health, and field costs when you’re also trying to remember what you’ve got to do to stay on track today!
Enlist the aid of a crop expert to help you read the results of soil tests and plant sap analyses. Our team at ST Biologicals reads these reports for our clients every day.
#3 Stay Flexible in Your Ag Sales Plan
Mother Nature has a way of always winning. She always wins because she waits. Observation is critical for knowing if you only have a hiccup or a full-blown upset. You must watch for signs that you may need to change strategies due to weather or other unexpected natural events. A cold, wet spring can change a lot of plans. But then, so can a hot, dry one.
Mother Nature’s not the only fickle one. You also must be aware of market fluctuations. This is when all the market research you’ve done will come in handy. If you’re not doing market research, go here. It explains SWOT and SMART thinking and why you need to market your farm or ranch products.
#4 Talk with Your Prospective Customers
Customers can’t read your mind. And, of course, you can’t read theirs either. When you know what your customers are expecting from you in terms of quantity and quality, the easier it will be to make sure you meet their specs.
Build strong relationships with your customers through regular communication. The internet can be a powerful sales tool. Penciling in time to communicate with your buyers is time well spent. Your communication might include photos of you and your crew maintaining your farm machinery, planting, or walking the fields in winter scouting. These are ordinary parts of your life but, depending on your market, may be altogether new.
If nature throws you a curveball, it’s good to have that relationship so you can let your customers know there may be a delivery date change or even a failed crop. Don’t you want to know upfront about changes?
#5 Leverage Technology on your Farm or Ranch
It’s become impossible to avoid technology in agriculture. You may embrace tech already, or you may be moving into the 21st century kicking and screaming. Sensors, drones, and GPS all make precision farming possible. All new tractors have GPS. Drones can give you an incredible amount of data about your fields and crops (though it’s never as good as walking the field yourself). You probably wouldn’t have a very accurate idea of your yield this past year without sensors.
Some ancient technology is considered new again. No-till, cover cropping, biologicals, and expanded biodiversity are regenerative agricultural practices that are increasing agricultural profits. (1) The science is in: using regenerative ag methods sequesters carbon (giving you another revenue stream opportunity in the form of carbon credits) and builds topsoil. The healthier your soil is, the healthier your plants are. You spend fewer dollars on pest and disease control.
Fewer chemical inputs mean less chemical residue on your crops. You may be able to get a premium price on the quality of your production, even if the quantity is less. (2) That’s a huge win!
We know what you’re thinking: How can I finance a transition from the old way of farming and the few conventional crops I’ve depended on? Leverage accounting technology (or your accountant) and develop a sound business plan to cover that transition and talk to your local lender. Don’t know how to do this? Go to our blog, where financing your ag business is covered in detail. It may surprise you to know that regenerative ag operations are less risky. Lenders like less risk.
#6 Stay Informed on Ag Trends and Markets
The ag market is fickle. Over the past ten years crop prices have declined, the cost for inputs has increased, and climate has made a lot of farmers and ranchers rethink their occupations.
Predicting the future is risky, but we believe increased production of many commodity crops will continue to depress prices. There are also more global competitors for markets. The production increases are due to the adoption of precision agriculture and GMOs.
But those same adaptations are also keeping the US out of many export markets. Many countries won’t accept GMO products, and the adoption of electric vehicles is decreasing the market for biofuels. Trade disputes also disrupt agricultural markets.
Consumer demand is driving regenerative ag and sustainable ag practices. Soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem services are key performance indicators as important as yield is. The same tools that increase production for commodity crops can be used to meet the needs of consumers and stricter regulations on sustainable practices.
On average, US farmers are making less profit now than they were 10 years ago. According to the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS), net farm income is forecast to decrease by 6.8 percent between 2023 and 2024, and when adjusted for inflation, it is expected to be 27.6 percent below the 2022 record high. Are you part of this statistic?
Is US Agriculture in Transition?
We think the strongest markets will be for regeneratively produced products. Stricter regulations and consumer demand are the driving forces. Climate change is changing the landscape and seasons, making traditional farming and ranching risky businesses. Lenders are even looking at regenerative ag operations with a solid ag plan as better lending opportunity.
Regenerative agriculture is a spectrum, and you may already be incorporating practices like cover cropping, reduced tillage, and crop rotations into your operation. The incremental approach is one way to improve soil health and achieve sustainability without a complete overhaul.
There are pros and cons to the incremental approach. It’s easier to develop an ag sales plan when most of the variables are known. It’s also easier to explain it to your crew. But, depending on the weather, it may leave you in the same position as making no changes at all.
Many case studies are now available that show farm or ranch profits do not go down when converting from conventional to regenerative, even if it’s an overnight overhaul. Production might. But production is not the same as profit. And in the long term, farm profits are always higher with regenerative ag practices.
At ST Biologicals, our mission is to help farmers and ranchers succeed in transitioning to a more successful way of farming. Contact our team and find out how regen could put more money in your pocket. We’re here to help you succeed. When soil speaks, we listen.
