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Fertilizers, seeds, pesticides are the secret to a profitable crop in 2022. Really!?

by | Agribusiness

I just attended a podcast for farmers in which the main topics were better seeds, more fertilizer, better pesticides as being the secret to a profitable crop. I often attend events for farmers, talking again and again about these “keys” to better profit. If they are indeed all keys and we keep discussing them, why don’t we all have already our profit skyrocketing?

We work every day with seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. We are familiar with them. Our knowledge is so deep that we could talk about them for hours and days. We could even tell what seeds we planted 5 years ago in one particular plot. And what pesticides, fertilizer we used 3 years ago. We remember the yield we had for every crop in the last 5 years.

It’s part of our life; every farmer knows about them, every supplier talks about them. And because everyone around us speaks about the same thing, we were made to believe this is the only way to increase our farm’s profitability. And the only way to have more money in our pockets at the end of the year.

But actually, it is one more way of having a profitable crop that your suppliers don’t know about. Why? Because it’s out of their expertise, knowledge, and understanding. They talk from their perspective, using the knowledge acquired in school, their own experience, or other farmers’ stories.

Many of us learned about farming and everything connected with agriculture. We learned about plant genetics, plant physiology, how to grow crops, pesticides, substances, fertilizers influence plants, soil, soil health, etc.

Seeds, fertilizers, pesticides that increase the profitability of our farm

Some of us, farmers, think that we are not profitable because we don’t have enough land. I will tell you a secret. The land is a resource for us. And in all businesses, resources are limited. Therefore, we should do best we what we have. Maybe if you are Apple, Google, or Amazon, you don’t have this kind of problem. But all other businesses have. Therefore, we need to look at how to do best with what we have.

And many of us are already doing it: we search every day to learn more and find ways to improve our farm’s performance. We watch podcasts, ask other farmers, and test in our fields. And we implement some changes that influence our profitability.

I will give you one example:

We replace the fertilizer we use because a new formula is on the market that promises us a better yield. This change gives us the feeling that we did something for better performance. And every single improvement that we do on our farm could bring a 5- 10% increase in the crop yield.

It’s a lot of work to do all these changes year after year. But we, farmers, are hardworking people. We would not be on the farm if we wouldn’t love work.

But we continue to do things in our area of comfort. Where we already have knowledge, experience, expertise. Like seeds, fertilizers, pesticides. And because we do all of this, we think that these are the only way to improve farm profitability.

The other farmers around us are doing the same, and this is what we learned from older farmers. Nobody thought us that there is one more aspect that many of us are neglecting, including me in my early years on the farm.

We have myopia when it comes to the business side of farming.   

You have been doing this kind of improvement for a while now. And the results are not as you expect. Because you have invested much time, energy, money and the results are disappointed. 

I have been here. I know how it is…

The secret to a profitable farm

In my first years on the farm, I did exactly what everyone else did. I was in learning mode, taking all the knowledge I could acquire from my parents, other farmers, suppliers, customers, etc.

And because I was in this learning mode, I wanted to attend a master’s degree. I decided that a Master in Business Administration (MBA) would be a good fit for my farm business and for me personally to get better not just in the field and technology but also in the business side of farming.

What I have learned during my MBA program is mind-blowing! I am still surprised and shocked that nobody teaches farmers about this.

Many of the things I have learned during my MBA were totally different from how I was doing management on my farm. Slowly and with some doubt, I started implementing part of the knowledge I had acquired. And the results were amazing! This gave me confidence that what I was implementing was helping my farm. I became more confident, and I applied more of the business insights on my farm. I was so excited about my results! 

I was surprised to discover that my neighbors started to notice how successful I was. So they began to look at what I was doing on the field, they started copying what I was doing on the field. They were not able to see that the game-changer for my farm was not on the field; it was how I planned and managed my entire farm activity.

 I’m talking about choosing the profitable crops, how I built relationships with my customers, my suppliers, the equipment I was using. My knowledge about the market and the trends on the market were helping me make good decisions. Understanding how different events, like Evergrande from China, could influence price, helped me plan my finances well.

You can do this also 

As you can see, you did over and over again the improvement with seeds, fertilizers, pesticides. But at the end of the day, you are in the same vicious circle of profitability. You don’t go far.

Using planning tools helps you develop the ability to oversee what is coming and proactively take action. It’s like being completely prepared for the storm when it is sunny, and no one can predict the storm around the corner. But you know it’s coming.

Real innovation is when you bring something completely new in your area of business to your farm. How can you do this? You apply new tools new techniques and create a shift for your farm, family, and you.

These tools don’t cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars; it’s far from that. Success stays in your ability to focus on your final goal and do what is right. This was a game-changer on my farm.

It’s time to bring something new to your farm, something innovative, something that could boost your financial results. You and your family deserve this. You deserve to see your kids growing outside of the tractor cab. You deserve to have more time for your hobbies.

All you need is someone on your side who has done this before. And to be willing to learn new things outside of your comfort zone.

My offering supports farm owners who want to step more into being business leaders that their farm, family, and community needs. Contact me to get started now.

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