COLLEGE STATION Randall Mints says he’s armed and ready to take back four days’ worth of financial planning information and apply it to the family’s crop and cattle operation in Vernon.
“The main thing I wanted to learn here was to be a better decision maker,” he said.
Mints and about 23 other representatives from commercial farming and cattle operations came to College Station recently to take part in the second session of Tomorrow’s Top Agricultural Producer Program, sponsored by Texas Cooperative Extension.
The first session, held in Amarillo, focused on the basics of business management, while the College Station session zeroed in on production and financial planning. Participants also learned more about getting the most out of employees by improving communication skills, strategic planning concepts, budgeting and cash flow projections.
“We’re trying to give new and/or young agricultural producers the skills to succeed in their operation,” said Stan Bevers, Extension economist based at Texas A&M’s Research and Extension Center in Vernon. “We are using a business plan to identify and teach them the necessary skills (to be successful).”
Producers were exposed to more than just simple record keeping. Previous “leveling” workshops introduced individuals to Quickbooks Pro financial software programs. At the College Station session, participants were taught different ways to evaluate their operations financially. Several topics were discussed during the four-day event, including depreciation of equipment, estimating production costs, price targeting and recording calving ratios.
“It’s a little overwhelming at first, but once you get the feel of it, it’s pretty easy,” Mints said. “My dad does a lot of it in his head, but with the size of our operation now, you can’t do that. We’ve got 40 different rented properties, and what I’d like to do is break it down by each property and find out if it’s not making any money, then let somebody else rent it.”
The session kicked off with Don Tyler leading a presentation on “Defining Your Personality.” His consulting firm, Tyler and Associates, provides advice to agricultural clients in the areas of personnel management, manager coaching and training, employee accountability and family business management.
His discussion was aimed at improving communications skills among managers and employees.
“From a management standpoint, we get too busy with returning phone calls and other tasks, which makes it hard for us to communicate with employees,” Tyler said. “A lot of times, we find ourselves trying to communicate something we’ve done a thousand times and already know what the objectives are.”
Tyler stressed the importance of developing a communications strategy, which might include having regular meetings with employees.
“Have an agenda, which might include things like discussing repairs and maintenance — have some type of organized instruction,” he told the group. “I encourage my clients to have a regular meeting with a set of things to do.”
Identifying and managing different personality types can also lead to better performance. Tyler had participants go through a personality identity exercise in which individuals discovered if his or her personality was one of dominance, influence, conscientiousness or steadiness.
He discussed several ways of “balancing” those personality types to place individuals into roles on the farm they are more suited for and in which they are more likely to succeed. And he discussed the role of family operations and the different personalities that work together daily.
“With families, there is always history there,” he said. “We have these things that happen good or bad. We need to learn to flush those and move on. Other family issues might include marriage, bringing someone in who has different values, like someone who likes to spend money, or doesn’t have a proper work schedule. We need to learn how to balance these.”
Two more program sessions are scheduled: Dallas, Nov. 10-13 and Kerrville, Jan. 12-15, 2004. The Dallas session will emphasize marketing, and the Kerrville session will cover legal and liability issues and personnel management.
“What happens next is what makes TTAP unique from other executive programs. We will assign each of our graduates a set of mentors two experienced producers and one ag lender to provide them an objective sounding board,” Bevers said. “Consultation with mentors will help our graduates adapt their business plans over time to changing conditions and opportunities. This interaction will also involve at least one on-site visit to a graduate’s operation.”
Program sponsors include the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo; Southern Region Risk Management Education Center; Texas Cooperative Extension; Texas A&M University System; Ag Texas-FCS; Capital Farm Credit; First Ag Credit-FCS; John Deere Foundation; Lone Star Land Bank-FLCA; New York Board of Trade; Texas Corn Producers Board; Texas Wheat Producers Board; Ag Auto Workers; Cotton Incorporated; Rain and Hail-LLC Texas; and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
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