One Year, One Focus

I've attended a few meetings on the subject of "there's 1,000 variables that affect a crop" and it can be a little overwhelming if you think about what those 1,000 things are.  Instead I like to use a one year, once focus approach for those I work with. There are many reasons I do this; fixing every issue in one year is not cost effective, when you have several things to do it's hard to focus on many things, and making whole hog changes can be dangerous if not done in steps.

I recently attended a Winfield event where Director of Insights and Partnerships, Jim Hedges, said that "the things I didn't do were the things (on my farm) that cost me the most."  That quote is exactly the thing we need to focus on.  Often it's the little things like not applying an insecticide or changing a tillage practice we noticed was hurting us that will haunt us again in the future.  His talk was around using technology insights to have better in season decision making so you can take action earlier and with better chances of returns.  While the value of in season decisions can pay big returns it's often the little things we overlook.

Two years ago I noticed that we had a reduced plant stand compared to others with similar programs and we spent the entire summer working on why that was.  The root of the cause was somewhere between soil conditions at planting and the amount of in-furrow starter we were using (too much).
  We lowered our starter rate, and used a biological fungicide along with our planned in-furrow insecticide with the singular goal of increasing plant stand and uniformity in 2016.  That was it, just one goal for the year and it paid big dividends with a two-thousand plant increase that led to a 14 bushel farm average increase over 2015 all the while reducing our cost per bushel. 

Singular focuses have paid big dividends in other operations as well.  Another farm I work with was having a similar issue with plant stand a few years ago, but it was from residue in the seed trench and issues with closing.  We changed closing wheels to a slightly more aggressive closer one year, and saw a significant improvement but not what we wanted.  So, the following year we also added trash wheels ahead of the row units behind their zone-till coulters on their planter and finally had a plant stand we were happy with.

It is likely that these are not issues on every operation, but there are many things we can be doing different every year.  The key is to find someone willing to work with you to find these little things that you can improve on your operation and making a yearly focus on them to improve crop performance and profitability.  While we often focus on agronomy subjects things we can improve are not just limited to agronomy since marketing is often another aspect that we need to improve.

The options here are really limitless (back to the 1,000 variables thing), but they are fixable.  For me, I come up with one slogan for the year and write it down on my white board in my office at the top.  This year's slogan is what is important for me when we work with our customers and is my singular focus for 2018 "grasp input costs so we can react to markets, and execute our plan".  If you find a singular focus for your operation in 2018, own it and make it all you are about for this year.

What will go on YOUR white board?