Farm Your Way Out of Tight Margins with the Max Yield System 

In today’s ag economy flying by the seat of your pants is a one-way ticket to lost productivity and profit. So when every dollar – and every minute – counts, what’s your best line of defense against the unpredictability of the upcoming season? A plan.

The Max Yield System – brought to you exclusively by Red Barn Enterprises – is an innovative planning approach that empowers you to tackle the unique challenges in every field, leading to unprecedented yield and productivity. Our field-by-field approach provides a comprehensive plan for success empowering you to unlock the true potential of your crops season after season. 

So why am I hammering you on planning…again?

There isn’t much I would bet on when it comes to the outcome of a growing season except for this: there will undoubtedly be a curveball thrown your way at least once each season. From Mother Nature delivering you her worst, to unexpected equipment malfunctions and unforeseen product availability issues, our industry sure is good at keeping us farmers on our toes. 

The key to mitigating the unexpected is through deliberate planning. And no, I don’t mean driving yourself crazy by planning for any and all outcomes. What I mean instead is planning for your desired outcome. 

Whether you farm a few hundred acres or a few thousand, you have return on investment goals and the Max Yield System can be your GPS to success enabling you to find the competitive advantage in each and every field. Believe me, even your worst ground has an upside and we’re going to help you find it AND take advantage of it with the Max Yield System.

How It Works

Through the Max Yield System (M.Y. System), the team at Red Barn utilize a “boots on the ground strategy” to partner with you to help you understand your soils, and achieve your return on investment goals, while carefully considering management factors that impact overall success. We do this through five specific touch points: 

• Early Planning: Ahead of planting, we’ll evaluate factors that can limit success and develop a cropping plan to help you increase bushels, as well as, profitability. Early planning may be the single most important aspect of the M.Y. System. The earlier you plan, the sooner you are equipped to handle unpredictability meaning less scrambling and stress from day one.
• Hybrid Portfolio: Mitigating risk through selecting a hybrid portfolio with diversity in maturity and stress tolerances, which helps increase yield and reduce loss due to uncontrollable variables. In a recent blog post I offered a practical example for adopting this mentality at planting, but this principle should start long before your planter starts rolling. Check out this resource that dives deep into the concept of “Right Hybrid, Right Field,” and remember we can help you sort through this information regardless of who you bought seed from.
• High Yield Planting: Take the human variable out of maximum yield and develop a planting plan on the controllable variables of the planter pass – soil conditions, seed placement, seed quality, and the right hybrid. 
• Post Planting Management: Assess crop conditions and evaluate yield-limiting factors in partnership with your trusted advisors at Red Barn to make timely management decisions throughout the season, which help maintain yield potential regardless of how the weather plays out.
• Harvest Evaluation: Whether we’re delivering you a harvest meal in the field or riding in your buddy seat, harvest evaluation at Red Barn happens in the field when combines start rolling. This real-time observation of harvest results enhances knowledge to improve product placement and planning for the next season.

The strategies above are taken field-by-field and provide you with a comprehensive plan for success empowering you to unlock the true potential of your crops, and transform the plan into your very own, M.Y. System. For another view of what this year-long partnership could look like on your operation, check out the infographic below:

I’ll close out today’s post by taking us back to this blog’s intro and making an appeal for early planning. It’s no secret agriculture is a tough business. We’ve known this for years, but the current economy keeps this even more top of mind for farmers as we enter another growing season. 

So how do you farm your way out of tight margins? You plan for it. And the sooner the better.

If you can make 100% of your decisions up front, you won’t be 100% right. But in my experience with the M.Y. System on my own operation you’ll be right 80% of the time. With an early plan in place you have the bulk of what you need to accomplish this growing season planned and when those curve balls happen, get back on course with a quick decision!

In a time where every dollar counts, don’t forget the value of your time and mental health. Protect both with an early plan, and unlock the power of the Max Yield System on your own operation today.

This post was written by Axis Seed – Red Barn Enterprises President and resident corn expert, Matt Long.