If I met you on the street and gave you two options, you pay me $50 or I pay you $25, which option would you choose? It seems simple. Yet, emotions run rampant when the same profitability spread is presented in crop rotations. Is corn making more money? Plant more of it. Are soybeans making more money? Plant more of them.
Now I meet you on the street again. I give you the option for you to give me $12 and I give you $20, or you give me $35 and I give you $50. You’ll probably choose to net $15 instead of $8. When it comes to crop inputs such as fungicide or additional fertilizer, many people shut their wallets when they’re ready to be done writing checks. Why is that?
In 2026, take a strategic approach to your decision-making. Always give a numbers answer and a gut-instinct answer. If the numbers work on paper but don’t feel right, ask why. If it feels right but the numbers don’t work, ask why. Often shedding a bit more light on either end of the equation helps overcome the paralysis of a good decision.
In the military, we say: “Doing nothing is still a decision, and that decision could get you killed.”
Go ahead and put off transition planning, training the next generation, handing over responsibility or starting a new venture. It’s a decision, but it’s probably not a good one.
I have a lot of decisions to make in 2026, and one thing I’m committed to is doing things that scare the snot out of me. One of the biggest lamentations of farmers we work with through our consulting business is “I wish I had taken more risk in my 20s and 30s.” Let’s take the low-hanging fruit advice and get going.
Fruit You’re Leaving on the Tree
What other easy decisions exist in your business that you’ve been putting off? Here are some common themes:
• Add the employee you know you need and pay them right.
• Approach a landowner whose kids will likely sell the farm and get a plan in place.
• Right-size your equipment for your future goals to improve efficiency and pick up additional work.
• Invest in infrastructure that makes for simpler operations with strategic benefits.
• Have more kids while you are young and living that chapter of life.
• Buy more land or diversify income through investments.
• Start a transition plan before you need it.
• Lightly tread into new waters of diversified farm-related income.
• Improve and dial in your cost of production.
• Spend time with family and hand off responsibilities you aren’t good at or don’t like doing.
Enjoy the low-hanging fruit, and keep your head on straight. There’s a lot of uncertainty out there, but cool heads will prevail.
