Farm4Profit Podcast

How to form your advisory team. What’s working for Ag – listener or farmer feedback o Farm4profitllc@gmail.com o @Farm4Profitllc on Twitter  Taking prevent plant with Brian Sampson Forming an Advisory Team You don’t have to face crucial decisions alone. You can get a team of experts to help you with yourfarming decisions. Where do you start? Is an advisory team right for your farm? Could it become a board of directors? Which farms or operations are a fit for an advisory team?  Many of farms are set up perfectly for an advisory team.  The one who aren't are the farmers who go at it only being their way.  For the rest of you it is a fit! How do I form an advisory team?  You start by listing out the people you think would be a good fit for your advisory team.  They maybe people you already call for advice, or they could be people you've wanted to ask before and haven't.  Then, ask them!  This is the key part, the asking.  What we have learned is when you ask, more often than not, the team member feels honored to join.  This results in more attentive listening and invested advice. Who should be on my advisory team?  This will depend on your farming operation.  We suggest starting with agronomists, accountants, bankers, financial advisors, commodities broker, retired farmer, peer farmer, lawyer, land lord, veterinarian and so on.  Each team will be different based on the needs of your farming operation.  Also, think about reaching out to someone outside of the AG industry.  As farms continue to get more complex with various entities and structures including a CEO or CFO from a corporate setting could provide unique insight. How often should we meet?  This will depend on your farming operation again!  Some of the operations we talked to reach out to specific team members with questions throughout the year and host a full team meeting in the Winter.  Depending how complex your farm business is and how formal of a role you want your advisory team to play this may be different.  We have learned of a farming operation who has their advisory team functioning as a board of directors with voting rights, they meet monthly. Do I compensate my advisory team?  The decision to pay your board or team will be your choice.  You will retain team members longer when purchasing their services or compensating for their time.  However, you can also get quality advice from the right personalities for free too!  Summarize o Start by doing self-reflection on your ability to accept criticism. Flight school pilots are separated from good and great by those who can accept criticism the best and own their faults. They are all trained the same but the best are humble. You need to ask the people to be a part of your team, otherwise they may not even have a clue. Think about your weaknesses or areas of challenge and recruit members to fill those gaps. Each farm will be different so figure out what fits best into your schedule for meeting and which way you plan to compensate your team members.  Glen Newcomer (twitter) learned about creating a when I die folder from his advisory team.  Challenge o If you have people you call now for advice, take the next steps to make sure they are considered your advisory team. Then make it a point to have regular and focused conversations about improving your farm. If you already have an advisory team together we challenge you to think outside of the box for an additional team member (CFO, CEO, HR, etc…)  Conference Update o Farm4Profit Farm Business Award – Nomination details to be on the website, awarded to the farm/farmer most running their operation like a business.  Submit questions and topic suggestions o Farm4profitllc@gmail.com o @Farm4Profitllc on Twitter  Remember if you aren’t farming for profit, you won’t be farming for long. Want Farm4Profit Merch?  Custom order your favorite items today!https://farmfocused.com/farm-4profit/ Don’t forget to like the podcast on all platforms and leave a review where ever you listen! Website: www.Farm4Profit.comShareable episode link: https://intro-to-farm4profit.simplecast.comEmail address: Farm4profitllc@gmail.comCall/Text: 515.207.9640Subscribe to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSR8c1BrCjNDDI_Acku5XqwFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@farm4profitllc Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Farm4ProfitLLC/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Planning and budgeting – goal setting (Episode #2) Calving Story What’s working for Ag – listener or farmer feedback Cheap beer (focusing on family living expenses) costs from outside of farming expenses that still need to be carried by farm profitability Cutting the cable or using streaming entertainment services. monthly reoccurring charges for memberships/subscriptions that aren’t used any more Consulting with service providers for reduced rates, packages, or alternatives. (Energy, insurance, 5% changes) future podcasts Find us on twitter @Farm4ProfitLLC Individually on Twitter @IowaBankerman - Tanner @IowaLandGuy - David Send us an email farm4profitllc@gmail.com Connect through our website www.farm4profit.com Leave us a voicemail at 515.207.9640 Connect on Facebook @Farm4Profit Building an Instagram at Farm4Profit Planning and budgeting – goal setting Most often this is where it starts, just having a plan is progress even if it’s in your head. In today’s world with competition at its peak you can’t afford to not have a plan. Better yet, Write it down, type it up, enter it into a program Services available all over: https://farmlogs.com/ https://conservis.ag/ https://granular.ag/ https://www.harvestprofit.com/ https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/decisionaids.html https://quickbooks.intuit.com/online/ https://www.card.iastate.edu/ Share it with others – welcome feedback Family Team members (Banker, broker, accountant) Peers Example of what sharing with your peers can gain for you. An individual living in a suburb made a resolution to exercise more and chose CrossFit as a form of exercising to do that. The closest gym to him offering this style of workout was a 30 minute commute & in the opposite direction of where he worked. After working out for 3 months he built relationships with other members of the class & shared he may need to discontinue the class because the time commitment was too long. As soon as he shared this he had an option for a route that shaved 12 minutes off the drive time and the knowledge of a new gym closer to his work. Just by sharing his plan he gained from the perspective of others. Get detailed Over all is great, but dividing down to a field by field, acre by acre, or animal by animal basis will provide insight more insight Using unit by unit strategies could result in letting a farm go, searching for my ground or genetics like your highest profit characteristics, or searching for cost reduction strategies with a more focused effort. Company from prior conference was Ag Solver https://agsolver.com/ If you can’t do it get help Or you don’t enjoy it Pay for help or get it for free (future) There will be more material in future episodes about how to form an advisory team to help with this. Also future episodes on how to get more of this service from your bankers, salesmen, and tools for free. Review it Periodically Monthly or after seasonal swings and big market movements (trade deals and crop reports and planting progress) Huge tool in considering prevented plant or crop choices Make in season adjustments Compare at the end of the year/season Keep your original plan/budget and then compare. Learn from the factors that changed and why. Summarize Start with a plan, basic. Work through the details and then share your plan with others. This will help keep you accountable and maybe share insights you were missing. Make adjustments throughout the year and revisit it frequently to make sure you are on track. At the end reflect on how it turned out and what needs to be done differently next time. Challenge What does you budget look like now? Not talking if it’s in the green or red, but does one exists. If you do have one are there ways you get add more detail or more accurate information to it? DO you know someone with more skills than you have to add insight? If you don’t have one start now to take the steps to get started on paper. Write it down. Conference Update What’s working for Ag section to be featured on 12/6/2019. Sharing the most profitable actions from farmers from all areas. Submit questions and topic suggestions Find us on twitter @Farm4ProfitLLC Individually on Twitter @IowaBankerman - Tanner @IowaLandGuy - David Send us an email farm4profitllc@gmail.com Connect through our website www.farm4profit.com Leave us a voicemail at 515.207.9640 Connect on Facebook @Farm4Profit Building an Instagram at Farm4Profit Want Farm4Profit Merch?  Custom order your favorite items today!https://farmfocused.com/farm-4profit/ Don’t forget to like the podcast on all platforms and leave a review where ever you listen! Website: www.Farm4Profit.comShareable episode link: https://intro-to-farm4profit.simplecast.comEmail address: Farm4profitllc@gmail.comCall/Text: 515.207.9640Subscribe to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSR8c1BrCjNDDI_Acku5XqwFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@farm4profitllc Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Farm4ProfitLLC/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Show Notes Introduction episode Introducing who we are…. Founder, Partner, Organizers of the annual Farm4Profit Conference which in 2019 will be our 6th meeting. Our meeting started as a local and independently organized annual meeting providing farms and operators of all sizes and experience levels access to the latest trends, projections, and the tools necessary to increase farming profitability. The only thing that has changed is our reach for attendees. They are no traveling from hundreds of miles away to attend. The Mission of the Farm4Profit Organizers: To provide Midwest farms and operators an annual, independent, and unbiased outlet for information related to increasing the profitability of their farming operation. This is why we started the podcast….. our mission to share the information we learn from others more frequently than at an annual conference (which we can’t fit everything we want to say in anyway) and to more people than our e-newsletter subscriber list. We hope we build up a library of useful recordings for farmers, ranchers, and ag professionals of all kinds to go back and listen to for a long time to come. Whether you are just starting out or looking for ways to make your existing operation more profitability we hope you find value in what we record! Host background: Tanner Winterhof – growing up on a farrow to finish hog farm in NW IA with corn and soybeans as row crops. Saw firsthand the struggles and effort it takes to be a farmer/producer and the need to be a continual learner. I had an internship with my parent’s bank and got my first observation of the relationship a lender could have with their farming clients and prospects. This become my passion as I worked to become an agricultural lender. I now have 12 years in banking and am working the job I set out to obtain trying to help by advising clients and prospects of ways to make their operations or businesses more profitable. Now, as we record this agriculture in our area has been through some trying years and I get to witness again firsthand the power of good farm management both through my family, my in-laws, and my customers. My wife and two daughters and I respect agriculture very highly in our lives which is the motivation for trying to grow the material Farm4Profit has available for you. David Whitaker– originally from Montana and attended college at North Dakota State then moved to Iowa. Married into a family with a cow/calf operation with some of the cattle at his house in Central Iowa. David owns an auction and real estate business helping farmers sell their assets and personal property for the highest dollar/value available. Provide an overview for what the format will look like Welcome – Sharing things happening in our lives, things we observed, moments in time. Answer listener questions, go to the “mail bag”, and provide insight – we prefer submitted audio to share. What’s working for Ag – listener and/or farmer feedback Try to pick up tips from coffee shop talk Attack our topic of the week – we will include interviews with experts Topics with explanation Tips from those who have expertise and experience Examples of ways to implement in your farm or business Summarize and give application challenges Sneak Peek at future topics and share how to submit questions Share Conference updates and closing Share ways to contact us and encourage involvement – leave a recording Find us on twitter @Farm4ProfitLLC Individually on Twitter @IowaBankerman - Tanner @IowaLandGuy - David Send us an email farm4profitllc@gmail.com Connect through our website www.farm4profit.com Leave us a voicemail at 515.207.9640 Connect on Facebook @Farm4Profit Building an Instagram at Farm4Profit Want Farm4Profit Merch?  Custom order your favorite items today!https://farmfocused.com/farm-4profit/ Don’t forget to like the podcast on all platforms and leave a review where ever you listen! Website: www.Farm4Profit.comShareable episode link: https://intro-to-farm4profit.simplecast.comEmail address: Farm4profitllc@gmail.comCall/Text: 515.207.9640Subscribe to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSR8c1BrCjNDDI_Acku5XqwFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@farm4profitllc Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Farm4ProfitLLC/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What the Top Tier of farmers are doing (Episode #1) Share ways to contact us and encourage involvement – leave a recording Find us on twitter @Farm4ProfitLLC Individually on Twitter @IowaBankerman - Tanner @IowaLandGuy - David Send us an email farm4profitllc@gmail.com Connect through our website www.farm4profit.com Leave us a voicemail at 515.207.9640 Connect on Facebook @Farm4Profit Building an Instagram at Farm4Profit What’s working for Ag – listener or farmer feedback Early Planted Beans Yields were similar of better than that of those planted later I the area in 2018 Were able to finish the bean planting or get progress ahead of normal pace Allowed for corn to be planted into optimal conditions Is custom hired spraying pre-emergent you weren’t competing with other producers for sprayer time. Didn’t have to switch out plates from the planter from the end of last spring. Top 20% - high level of future podcasts Plans, Agendas, Budgets (future)x Review & Update Frequently Know their cost of production (Future)x They understand their financial position Have created an advisory team (Future) Who should be on it Accountant, Agronomist, Banker, Financial Advisor, commodities broker, livestock buyer, business owner, Peer Experience, Technology, Lawyer, Landlord? and more How often do you meet Are you willing to set it up as a board with voting structure You make the recommendations and take to a vote or discussion Be proactive (Future) Successful farms don’t see themselves as the victims Take on problems as challenges Work to predict problems and prevent Don’t get surprised and take things in stride Get better before they get bigger Focus on making the most out of every acre Use technology to gain efficiencies (future) Become a great leader by bettering themselves and setting examples (future) They put time and priority into running their farms (focus) Always learning Great start, you’ve tuned in to check us out Attend conferences (future) Read news letters Networking group and advisory team Be in a room where you know the least (future) Steve Jobs quote? Many CEO’s in very successful businesses live by the idea of surrounding themselves with people who have greater skills or knowledge than they do. Whether it is specific to a skill or understanding by being with them you can learn to grow in your knowledge and abilities. Listen more than you speak when with these people. Immediately write down and reflect on your time spent with these people Don’t spend what they don’t have Or what they don’t have a clear ability to pay for Summarize Top performing farmers and business owners have plans and understand the financial position of their business. They work to be proactive in their thought processes and share those with an advisory team. The top performers are always learning and focusing on bettering themselves before expecting others to change. Challenge Look at yourself and your farming operation. Which of these characteristics or practices do you already have in place? Which areas could you use work on? Now which concept above could be the easiest for you to implement next? Our challenge is then for you to start practicing that in the next week. Then tune in to the next episodes as we will share ways to make the process of adopting those tips and techniques a little easier. Remember most of the time we are the most critical of that which we don’t understand. Rather than criticize something be curious and see if you can learn more about it. Conference Update December 6th, 2019 Submit questions and topic suggestions Find us on twitter @Farm4ProfitLLC Individually on Twitter @IowaBankerman - Tanner @IowaLandGuy - David Send us an email farm4profitllc@gmail.com Connect through our website www.farm4profit.com Leave us a voicemail at 515.207.9640 Want Farm4Profit Merch?  Custom order your favorite items today!https://farmfocused.com/farm-4profit/ Don’t forget to like the podcast on all platforms and leave a review where ever you listen! Website: www.Farm4Profit.comShareable episode link: https://intro-to-farm4profit.simplecast.comEmail address: Farm4profitllc@gmail.comCall/Text: 515.207.9640Subscribe to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSR8c1BrCjNDDI_Acku5XqwFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@farm4profitllc Connect with us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Farm4ProfitLLC/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.