I grew up loving to play softball and basketball. I am the truest believer of team sports – motivation, positivity, support – basically all things team oriented. You learn how to be patient, work together to achieve a common goal and you learn how to be humble. I think that dedicated, hardworking individuals with a passion for their sport make the best teammates.
Farming is a team sport.
You can’t farm successfully alone. I said it. If you are single-handedly running your own farming operation, doing all the planning, tillage work, planting, spraying, brush cutting, harvesting, fall application, AND bookkeeping. You, my friend, are a ROCKSTAR.
Our operation takes many hands to make it run smoothly. Our family, employees, consultants, product representatives, bankers (and more players than I can name) make up our team. Our awesome freaking team. In addition to our bigger team, Jordan and I are a team both at home and at work – really, life in general. We work hand in hand to get things done. Jordan, while mostly on the operations side of our business, works closely with our teammates to produce our crop and tend to our livestock. He organizes day to day tasks, plans our months out, markets our grain (which he is really good at!) and so many more things I cannot put into words.
My role is more behind the scenes, in the office (and on social media). I manage our financials, keep FSA records, enter our financial data in our accounting system, do payroll, budget, and basically all things office (alongside my amazing mother-in-law – that is for another post). Jordan’s information funnels into me and I help to organize and place the information in the right “folder.”
But Jordan and I, while our jobs differ drastically, work jointly to better our business every day. Very few decisions are made on the farm without being discussed between the two of us. Jordan doesn’t ask me if he can buy an extension cord I’m talking more substantial decisions, like how we are applying our chemical this spring or when to purchase a new piece of equipment. Jordan comes to me and asks for financial information, and he expects the information to be accurate. Just as I go to Jordan to provide me with guidance on what bin grain came out of, what contract we are filling, etc. (and I also expect his information to be accurate )
See, Jordan and I can’t do what we are doing individually without each other. That’s how farming works. You cannot farm on a larger scale alone. It wouldn’t make any sense. We couldn’t go up against the other team without the knowledge and support of one another (and again, our awesome freaking team!!). We trust each other. We trust that each of us are working hard as heck toward the same goal.
He is my person. I am his person. WE are a TEAM. And with the help of all our other teammates, we are making this farming gig work.
