The stories of farm emergencies are splashed across the pages of newspapers and websites all over the country. Imagine for a moment that the headline is about your farm. What would it say? One way you can help write your farm’s story is to develop an emergency plan, which can help reduce vulnerability, increase resiliency and save time in the moment when a crisis hits.

During my 20-plus years of analyzing dairy reproductive records, my mantra has always been "Benchmark against yourself, not your neighbor." Of course, there’s value in both, but my belief has always been that you’ll make the greatest gains by keeping your focus on your own results and figuring out how to improve them versus focusing on comparisons.

Every farm family has a story, and I have had the joy of spending two days with 380 Nebraska women in agriculture at their 40th conference. In her session, Katie Samples Dean, a very direct and farm-owner lawyer, suggested that many plans for succession and transition are foiled or are the wrong plan because Grandma did or does not understand the consequences of her decision-making.

I recently coached a wealthy farmer to have an individual conversation with each of his nonfarm heirs. He had never thought that this was something he could do. Were his children wanting land, money or something else? If it terrifies you to even think of asking the next generation, consider why.

Any time is a good time to work on the state of your union – marriage, spousal relationships or couple care. John Gottman, Ph.D, a highly respected American psychologist, authored The 7 Principles for Making Marriage Work. I’ve added a farm perspective to his tips.