Soil Sisters: Networking in the Dirt
Winter Retreat
Last week I traveled to Destin, FL to gather with my ag women peer group. This is a remarkable group of women I am so fortunate to have found. With cold temperatures accompanied by clouds and rain we did not have the temptation of the sunshine to pull us away from our topics. We have been together since 2014 and meet twice a year. Read my post from 2018 titled “My Tribe in Ag” for more background on how we met and organized the group. We have never really adopted a name for the group- we just refer to it as our peer group. But now I think I will call them my Soil Sisters! Let me know what you think.
Our monthly calls leading up to the winter meeting brought up topics surrounding issues such as labor, crop marketing, input costs, succession planning, large investment projects, interest expense management among others. In early January, we decided we really needed to dig into our costs and see what we might cut for the 2024 season. Little did we know that the price of corn and soybeans (which each operation grows) would decline dramatically since that time. We all knew for sure we must cut costs to be profitable at these prices. We planned to work together to evaluate each operation’s costs and help each other find areas we could save.
Operation Updates and Questions
We always begin our meetings by each woman updating the group on the wins and struggles of the past six months, covering various topics crucial to their farming operations. This always brings up great discussions and plenty of problem-solving suggestions. We focused on the topics we set in our agenda and got to work!
We were all happy to report good yields from the 2023 crop year but huge concerns for 2024. All 7 women are worried about grain market volatility and its potential impact on profitability in the upcoming year. Everyone acknowledged the need for careful planning and risk management in these uncertain times. Input costs have retracted slightly but as I write this post, fertilizer is making its way back up in price. The farm prices received for corn, soybeans and rice have fallen in recent weeks. We agree that marketing, cost control and managing interest rates of the lines of credit we all must borrow to operate will be critical to our success.
Several operations are concerned about the availability of labor, citing difficulties in finding workers. Also concerns over the reliance on the H2A program, which is a program to help agricultural employers find foreign workers to fill the seasonal jobs in agriculture. Discussions on the topic of succession planning, emphasizing the importance of preparing the next generation to take over the family farm are top of mind for a few of the ladies. How to make sure we are carrying on the legacy we have been entrusted with can be a weighty subject for anyone operating a family farm. Communication is key to that success, and I believe women farm owners are well prepared to bring up the subjects that are traditionally left unspoken.
Finally, we spent several hours reviewing our input costs and discussed how to reduce any areas we could find. Prior to the meeting we each prepared financial information to compare and discovered many similarities. The operations vary greatly in size, crop rotation, number of employees and family owners but we found our costs as a % of revenue generally aligned. What else could we do to cut costs? In a business where you do not have the ability to set your price the only way to create a margin is to cut expenses. But what if you cut something that the crop needs to produce higher yields? Many farmers look to the big-ticket items of fertilizer, crop protection, seeds - but we MUST look deeper. It is not dollars per acre we are searching for but pennies and nickels that add up to dollars. Most farming operations today have cut and cut until cutting more will sacrifice production.
Strength in Unity
Finding a group of strong women in your industry is a must in my opinion. This group has made me a better farmer, manager, and CEO but also better at working with my family inside the business. This group has added value to our family farm in many ways over the years. The support, advice, and encouragement has been priceless. I came home with a whole list of things to do, research, books to read and even accountability on my exercise program!
As we packed up and said our goodbyes, the sun started to shine. A few hours at sunset sitting on the beach was the perfect end to the time we spent together. Listening to the waves and breathing in the salty air gave me an inner calmness that I will draw upon as the stress of the season ensues. I am ready to return to our family farm and face the opportunities and challenges of the upcoming year. In a male-dominated industry, these women stand as shining examples of resilience, innovation, and collaboration. With them by my side I know that the future of farming is incredibly bright.