A Farm Plan To Inform And Inspire Success

A good farm plan does more than just aid decision-making and priority-setting. It should also inspire and motivate the farmer to pursue the goals that are important to her.

Because, let's face it, farming is hard work. And sometimes that work is tedious and repetitive (e.g. try spending 8 hours weeding carrots).

But if you have documented your Vision, Mission, and Goals for your farm, you know WHY you are spending your time on sometimes-mundane tasks.

Knowing WHY can make all the difference. If weeding the carrots is part of a larger plan to achieve success and independence on your own terms, then weeding the carrots will GET DONE.

What goes into a good farm plan?

A farm plan is a WRITTEN document that describes your assets and abilities, your Mission (what you do), your Vision (what you want your farm to become), your Goals (measurable objectives) and the Tasks that will get you there.

Sometimes this is referred to as a business plan; I prefer the term Success Plan, since that is the what we are trying to achieve.

Over my 20-year career as a management consultant, I helped to write any number of business plans for both large and small organizations (including a number of small farms).

My experience says the most important thing that goes into your farm plan is YOU. By that I mean no-one can do your farm plan FOR you; even a great consultant (ahem!) can only build your plan WITH you.

That DOES NOT mean you can't follow some guidance or get some advice to build your Success Plan. It just means that no-one loves or understands your business as much as you do. Therefore YOU need to be the driving force behind your farm plan.

What's stopping you from building a farm plan?

Perhaps you aren't sure of the need for a written plan. Or, maybe you don't think you will get cooperation from your farming partners.

Maybe you see the work required to build a good farm plan as daunting. Or, you aren't sure how to carry it out.

The good news is, just about EVERYONE starts there. Here's a few truths to get you 'over the hump'.

A farm plan documents your goals. A goal is measurable. It's a truism in business that what gets measured, gets DONE. If you have important goals to achieve, write them down as part of your plan. It will keep you and your partners on-track and accountable.
Your partner wants success as much as you do. Now, his/her definition of success may be different than yours. So you need to communicate that the Success Plan you build together can accommodate everyone's goals and desires. In fact you NEED their input to build a plan that achieves that independence you were both looking for.
Building a practical, useful plan for success is work, no doubt about it. But (just like weeding the carrots) once you understand that the work is bringing you closer to your goals, it will give a focus to the task.
Finally, no one is BORN knowing how to write a farm plan. It's knowledge that can be acquired just like with any other task.

By nature of my former career, I have more experience with that task than most farmers. You can check out the course I teach about building a success plan for your small farm business below.