How much do our practices and actions contribute to a successful season and how much is it just good or bad luck?
As we think about the 2017 growing season it is worthwhile reflecting on past decisions, both large and small.
On most family farms the primary decision-maker gets 25 seasons to be boss cocky! The role of BCG is to help Mallee and Wimmera farmers to improve their skills, knowledge and capability, and to be the best they can be.
Besides listening to the BCG podcasts, I also listen to a few others including one titled Freakonomics. An episode on how to be great at anything had me thinking. How do you become a great farmer? How do you become a great BCG person? The podcast suggests part of what is needed is deliberate practice and a very deliberate effort to improve.
Without reflecting on past decisions and actions, focusing on areas for improvement, and then investing the time and resources into addressing them, it is very hard to greatly improve.
BCG provides the farming community an opportunity to invest in their own development by offering access to experts, information, knowledge, events, demonstrations, proof of concepts and technology that may allow them to improve their businesses.
Having said that, BCG understands the offering is the easy bit and the challenge is incorporating the various pieces of advice, system changes and technology into a working farm facing huge seasonal climate challenges.
Over the next couple of years this challenge around decision-making and incorporating new opportunities will become a focus and digital agriculture and precision farming are likely to be front and centre.
BCG is confident Wimmera and Mallee farming has a very bright future. To ensure the opportunities are grasped, getting deliberately better at farming will be key. BCG is keen to continue to partner with members to work out which pieces of advice, system changes and or technology will improve their situation and to share solutions as they are identified.
