Preparation Helps You Make Most Of Bad Situations

By: Steve Groff

As much as we all try to get cover cropping right, things don’t always turn out the way we expect. Sometimes issues arise that can be solved with a little adjusting, but other times we find ourselves dumped right into “Plan B” territory.

So, what can we do when things really go off the rails? Well, obviously each issue has its own unique challenges, and not every catastrophe can be avoided or fixed. But there is certainly a mindset that we can adopt that can put us in the right frame of mind to make the most of a bad situation.

Here are some ideas to ponder:

1. Everyone has challenges. Don’t set yourself up for failure by planning on never failing. You don’t have to be a pessimist, but just have a healthy awareness that you’ll always have to think on your feet.

All kinds of things can throw you off in farming, and cover cropping is certainly not a predictable practice. If your corn crop loses money on a given year, farmers don’t just give up and say they’ll never plant corn again.

Think more about problem solving than problem preventing.

2. Be a compulsive learner. It would be great if we could learn everything at the beginning and never have to do it again. But that would also be boring, in my opinion.

Keep learning! See what your neighbors or friends are doing; try out a few acres of something new just to see if it works.