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Oct/Nov/Dec 1999: Choosing the Right Solutions
Aug/Sep 1999: Attitude for Success
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Attitude for Success
Editorial from the August/September 1999 issue of Small Farm Today® magazine.
There is a big difference between having an attitude and having a positive attitude. A bad attitude will affect your operation every step of the way, and result in the loss of profits–and customers.
Farming is a tough business, no two ways about it. You can be the best farmer in the world, doing everything right, but too much rain or too little rain can still affect your income.
It comes down to choices, starting with what you choose to raise. Some farmers will plant corn and soybeans, or raise cattle or hogs, sell it at the elevator and sale barn, and complain about the low prices and lack of government money. A farmer with a good attitude will investigate alternatives and alternative marketing, from raising elk for velvet to raising organic soybeans or "freezer" beef. A positive attitude says, "I can succeed!"
Choices extend to how you raise it, too. A farmer with a bad attitude will plant his or her crops and wait, grumbling all the while. A farmer with a positive attitude will also do whatever can be done to weatherproof the farm–building terraces to catch and divert water to holding sites (ponds or lakes), using cover crops and crop rotations to return organic matter to the soil to enable the soil to hold more water, or planting windbreaks to create more favorable microclimates for the crops. A positive attitude will make you do the best you can.
"So," you say, "I did all that, and still got squat for yields on my crops." It is still a matter of making choices and having a positive attitude that you can succeed. Just because you have done everything you can for the production end and have little to show, doesn't mean you have lost out–you still have the marketing end of farming to uphold your operation.
In successful small-scale farming, very little of your income should come from the production end; 80-90% of your income should come from the marketing end of your farming. A yield of five bushels of corn per acre (a very bad year!) sold as corn meal will result in the same or more gross income as 100 bushels per acre sold at the local elevator.
Mr. Bad Attitude scoffs and says, "I don't think so, Ron!"–but it's true! Fresh ground cornmeal can be sold for $1.50 per pound. At 56 pounds per bushel, that equals $84 dollars per bushel. A five-bushel yield at $84 a bushel equals $420 per acre gross income. A 100 bushel yield of corn at the price of $1.95 per bushel only equals $195 per acre gross income. Yes, you have to grind the corn, put it in a bag, label it, advertise it for sale, and maybe even deliver the cornmeal to the customer–but do you think that will cost you $225 per acre? I can be a lot more positive about $420 per acre than I can about $195 per acre. There is no money in selling the raw product unless you have a specialty market, and even then there is more money in marketing less volume by doing the marketing yourself.
The favorite argument against this type of marketing is, "Well, that's fine for you, but I have too much corn to sell like that." The first thing I would recommend is to ask yourself how many times in the past 20 years have your yields been as low as five bushels an acre–and your income been as high as $420 per acre. From there, I think you'll be able to determine that you can probably cut your corn acres 90%, and use the extra acres to grow other, more profitable crops–or set them aside to focus on the few acres that are profitable. Ifyou're not comfortable doing that, start by turning just one of your corn acres into cornmeal, and sell the rest at the elevator. Compare your profits at the end of the year to choose your direction.
A positive attitude is still important even after you've chosen direct marketing. Is your booth at the farmer's market attractive and inviting, with signs for each item listing their positive points and prices? Do you pay attention to your customers' needs and answer their questions, or respond with short, abrupt answers that indicate they're wasting your precious time? Do your customers hear from you how wonderful your produce is, or how many things went wrong on your farm?
You can make good money farming if you want to and make the effort. Will it be easy? No–but nothing in life worth getting is ever easy. It's all in the attitude–the positive attitude.
Happy and Profitable Farming,
Ron Macher
Publisher/Farmer