SEPTEMBER 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC Get it in writing
Focus is key to successful farm management Stories by PETER MITHAM
ABBOTSFORD – Most people don’t make a significant investment without getting the terms in writing first. Whether it’s a job, a property, or even a prenuptial agreement, a significant commitment comes with a lot of paperwork. When veteran farm business management consultant Larry Martin spoke at the Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford this past winter, he made a point of telling growers to have a written business plan.
“Successful operations have a written plan,” he said. “It’s not that they have a plan; they have a written plan. I refuse now to work with anybody on a coaching basis who won’t write down their plan because I know they’re not focused.” A written plan effectively becomes the contract one makes with oneself about the future and becomes a way of focusing, measuring and guiding the business towards success. While growers can revisit and update it, an unwritten plan becomes a
moving target that won’t anchor the business. “It’s all about focus, attention to detail,” he said. “Writing it down makes you decide what’s important. … Being clear on what’s important keeps you from wasting time on what’s not important.”
Based on his food industry experience with companies such as Pillsbury, Martin told growers to keep their plans simple. Less is more. He doesn't want people having too many objectives, because then they won't be able to meet them all. They need to be focused!
Being able to measure
progress towards those objectives is also important. While it’s good to have lofty ambitions, if you can’t – or won’t – measure your progress towards them, you’ll never know if you’ve achieved them. “If you measure what’s
important, you will improve it. It will always happen. I’ve never seen it not happen,” he said. “If you measure it, it will become important and you will measure it and make it better.”
Reviewing a written business plan regularly is an important step toward business success. FILE PHOTO Strategies flow
Strategies for managing the operation and growth of the business will naturally flow from a written plan as part of the measureable objectives it outlines. The experience of implementing the plan can be transformative, Martin said, but will ultimately make the business better. On the one hand, someone
must be responsible for implementing the plan, and this should clarify responsibilities and roles throughout the farm business. With clearer roles, staff can focus on meeting farm objectives and measuring how they’re doing. Martin pointed to the numbers side of the business as a case in point.
Many of the farm operators
he works with don’t take the keen interest in their financial reports that they should. The numbers are dense, but can yield a lot of insights. Among the farms he’s worked with, the information has allowed him to establish certain benchmarks for financial performance that he believes
See FINANCES on next page o
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