Every year, farmers talk about cutting costs, reducing waste, and getting more bang for their buck.

If you’re in agriculture, there’s a good chance this past year tested your patience. Low commodity prices, high input costs, tight margins—it’s the kind of season that makes every decision feel heavier. And looking ahead, it might be more of the same. When every dollar counts, it’s tempting to just dive into next season with your head down and sleeves rolled up. Before you jump in and get to work, there’s one step that can pay bigger dividends than any yield bump or price swing: an after-action review. Reflecting Beats Reacting All farmers do some kind of mental recap each winter: “ That hybrid didn’t hold up ,” “ We sprayed too late ,” “ Fertilizer costs killed the margin .” But when times are tight, those thoughts deserve more than a mental note. An after-action review isn’t just for corporate companies, it’s for all businesses, including your farming operation. Large, small and everything in between—it’s a proven approach used by the military, emergency responders, and forward-thinking farmers. The concept is simple: step back, analyze your season objectively, and make next year’s decisions sharper, leaner, and more data-driven. Think of it as yield-mapping your management choices. Why It’s Worth Your Time Clarity in the Chaos: Remove emotion from hindsight. See what really drove results, not just what felt like the problem. Better Decisions, Not Just Different Ones: Understand what worked and why. Double down on what’s effective, cut what isn’t, and control costs smartly. Team Alignment: If employees, family, or agronomists are involved, this process gets everyone on the same page and stops repeating mistakes. Confidence in Uncertainty: Markets and weather are unpredictable—but your response doesn’t have to be. An after-action review puts you in control of what you can manage. A Simple Way to Perform an After-Action Review on the Farm Gather the Facts: Pull yields, fertilizer rates, spray programs, weather notes, invoices, scouting reports—anything that tells the season’s story. Ask: What were our original goals? What did we actually achieve in yield, profit, and efficiency? Identify What Went Right: Even a tough year has wins. Maybe you hit target moisture on corn, reduced herbicide passes, or had fewer machinery breakdowns. List them—this shows what’s working under pressure. Identify What Went Wrong: Stick to facts, no blame. Be specific: “ Applied herbicide three days after rain, reducing control ,” instead of “ spray timing was bad .” Look at timing, inputs, and processes. Understand the Why: Keep asking why until you reach something you can control. Example: Soybean yields were low. Why? Poor stand establishment. Why? Planted in marginal soil. Why? Rushed to finish before forecasted rain. Now you’ve found something to fix—not just a bad outcome. Turn Lessons into Action: End with 3–5 clear, measurable takeaways for next year: Examples: Delay soybean planting until soil moisture conditions are ideal . Lock in fertilizer purchases 4–6 weeks earlier. Trial two new hybrids on poorer ground. Write these down, add them to your crop plan, and involve your agronomist. Don’t let your insights get lost, by keeping them in your head. Make It a Habit, Not a Hurdle The first after-action review is often the toughest. As you do them, they get easier and your review file becomes a running log of insights. Patterns will emerge, and you’ll start spotting trends that explain not just what happened, but why. That’s how farms succeed—even in tough years—not by luck, but by reflection, refinement, and intention. The Bottom Line You can’t control global markets. You can’t change the weather. But you can control how your farm learns and operates as a business. An after-action review rarely costs more than your time—and it’s one of the smartest investments heading into another challenging season. If you’d like a hand walking through the process, or want someone to help guide your review, we can work with you to make it simple and actionable. Take a breath, look back, and move forward smarter. Your future self—and your bottom line—will thank you.

We are reaching out to all of our followers today to address the increasing risk and exposure of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Brookside is implementing steps at the lab in order to help keep our staff, customers, consultants, communities, and families safe and healthy. Our consultants and clients will receive e-mails today about the precautions that we are putting in place immediately. We serve the agriculture community and our farmers will still be getting out in the fields here within the next month, so Brookside has no intention of closing at this time. However, if we are forced to close due to government intervention we will do so in accordance with the law. Any client of ours within the past year will receive notification if such steps are taken. If you are coming to the lab to drop off samples, please make sure that you have not been sick or personally been exposed to anyone sick in the last 24 hours. This will help limit the exposure at the lab and potentially the local community. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call the lab at 419-977-2766. We appreciate your understanding during this difficult time. Be safe!

We were recently joined by Dan Coffin, of Biodyne-USA for a discussion on soil biology. Topics include the late planting conditions of 2019 and the implications this may have on our nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer programs. Also covered, the significance of late planting to nitrogen assimilation by diazotrophic bacteria. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1YJoLhFZhM

Earlier this month, Brookside Laboratories, Inc. hosted Dr. George Place of North Carolina State University to discuss emerging interest in industrial hemp. Dr. Place did a fantastic job presenting a primer on industrial hemp. Topics included uses (fiber, seed, or oils), regulations, processing, biology, lab testing needs, food safety hazard concerns, pests, diseases, and others. This presentation was a great session and an excellent starting point for gathering information on this exciting new cropping opportunity. I strongly encourage everyone to catch up here if you were unable to join us live. Click this link to go to our YouTube Channel and watch the webinar.

Brookside Laboratories have the opportunity to make a commercial this last year and it has been airing on certain dates on Fox Business Network. Click the link below to view our commercial. https://youtu.be/KmxZ9XZTcEs

Free, interactive seminar to demystify soil health and start laying the foundation for optimal soil health on your farm. Soil Health 101 Seminar: Demystifying Soil Health https://blog.familyfarmsgroup.com/soilright/seminar

We recently started interviewing some of our consultants that have been with us for many years as part of our new Consultant Outreach Program. By doing this we are hoping to be able to share some of their experiences and knowledge with some of our other consultants, who might have questions or just simply need to hear the wise words of someone that has been through all the ups and downs over the years. These Consultants have been wonderful to give us a few minutes of their time and we thank them for that. We look forward to future talks with them and future talks with other consultants as we grow our Outreach Program. We recently talked to Tom Menke, who has been a consultant for over 40 years. He has done a lot of crop consultants, nutrient work, and has been mostly focused on environmental work. With having knowledge in more then one area of consultant, Tom can offer much value in helping spread his knowledge in your consultant community.

David Ricke recently came in and wanted to give his testimonial on how the Brookside program really has worked for him over the years. Some people might be a little hesitant to believe such a program could work, but Dave wanted to prove to everyone that it has worked for him for many, many years and he wouldn’t be a consultant today if it wasn’t for this program. In Dave’s presentation he used a couple different farms that has been with him for just as long as he has been a consultant. The first exam was a corn belt farmer. He shows in the presentation that different years and how his numbers for base saturation percentage has done wonders. He also used a large livestock producer, this farm was in good shape when Dave started with him, but there is always room for improvement, and that’s exactly what he did. He improved the farms numbers over the years.