Setting Goals and Objectives in Your Production Plan

“Begin with the end in mind”. This is a well-known phrase, which expresses the importance of starting off any project with a picture of how things should look once the work has been successfully completed. For large scale and long-term undertakings, this picture is referred to as the vision. For smaller and shorter scale operations, this picture takes the form of specific outcomes and is commonly referred to as objectives or goals.

A vision can be seen as a farmer’s dreams in action. It is the situation that the farming business strives for in the future, having a clear picture of how the farming business will change over time.

Goals and objectives are necessary to convert the vision of the farm into measurable performance areas.

Long term goals indicate a desired outcome or milestone which the farming business is striving to achieve in the future.

When formulating long-term goals, it is important that the number of goals should be limited to about three to five.

Areas to pay attention to in formulating long term goals are:

• The farming business’s growth
• Business performance
• Sustainability
• Succession

Click here to view a video about starting a farm business.

When formulating short-term objectives, the following questions must be answered: WHAT must be done, at which STANDARD and WHEN?

Short term objectives are formulated to give guidance and set targets that the farming business should achieve, within one year or one production season.

Without clear objectives, the farmer will not know where the farming business is headed, nor how well it is performing.

Short term objectives have the following characteristics:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Agreed upon by all stakeholders

R – Realistic or achievable

T – Time schedule

Some goals and objectives encompass a variety of challenges the most important of which are to:

Achieve per hectare yield targets – This means that the production per hectare must achieve the targets that have been set in the annual budget. Annual targets would vary from enterprise to enterprise.

Ensure the end products meet market specifications – The production manager must for example set production objectives to achieve the requirements of the markets. This could be in terms of size, colour or internal quality.

Ensure that the process is sustainable - This means ensuring that the environment is not adversely or unnecessarily disturbed by the production processes, for example by pest control chemicals, fertilisers etc., so that high levels of production can be sustained over the lifetime of the production area or enterprise.

Remain within the framework of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)– GAP calls for care in the use of chemicals to ensure safety for all operators, the use of pesticides, fungicides and fertilisers in a systematic, careful and planned way, and the judicious application of water to prevent wastage, contamination and erosion.

Secondary objectives may apply to individual farming operations, but meeting the objectives stated above will ensure the overall success of the operation.

In order for it to be successful, goal setting requires open communication, motivation and the complete buy-in and understanding of the farm’s objectives by everyone working on the farm.

It is important that when goals are set for the farm, there is an alignment between the goals for each agricultural system and the agricultural enterprise. If for example, the vision for your farm is to develop the farm for tourism, most of the activities on the farm should be directed towards achieving this overall goal.

Goals would maybe include developing a pet farm, having tractor driving fun days on the farm or maybe developing a picnic spot.

Click here for an example about setting goals and objectives for your production plan.

Click here to view an video that explains goals, objectives, strategies and tactics.