In one of his recent Cow-Calf Weekly columns, Troy Marshall talked about the importance of striving to improve, saying, “I’ve long felt it absolutely essential that, as managers, we must focus not only on making incremental improvements to our product and production efficiencies, but also embrace bold approaches to management and marketing.”

He went on to say, “Incremental improvements are critical to keeping you competitive from a cost standpoint, and helps build your image in the minds of customers. While everyone intuitively understands that remaining competitive means embracing change, few might realize how critical “disruptive innovation” can be to long-term success.”

Marshall suggests that, as cow-calf producers, many folks feel they can’t be radical, bold and innovative. But, that being said, we must all recognize that what makes us successful today, likely won’t be enough in the future. We always have to be willing to adapt, grow and change.

So the next time you’re driving down the highway or sitting on the tractor, let your mind drift toward the future and think about what it is that will make your operation successful. What do you want to change? What can be improved? What’s holding you back?

My husband recently brought home a book with the title, “What got you here, won’t get you there.” What a great mantra for the future.

I recently read that for the first time in 29 years, student membership of the National FFA Organization broke through the half million mark. This year, there are 500,823 members in 7,358 FFA chapters across the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The last time national FFA membership topped 500,000 was in 1978 with 507,108 members.

I’m glad to see that this great organization is still going strong and changing lives. I joined the FFA as a freshman in high school in 1986, and it was the center of my life for the next five years. I learned so much, made life-long friends and earned many awards along the way - including becoming the State FFA President for South Dakota in 1990-91.

Now, even though my kids are just starting school (our oldest is in second grade) I’m already looking forward to their years in FFA. I know it will be equally rewarding for them in setting the direction for their future careers and leadership accomplishments.