Doing more with less: Productivity strategies for every farm
Doing more with less: Productivity strategies for every farm
From soil to strategy, even small changes can deliver big results. This article shares tested ways to sharpen efficiency, strengthen farm operations, and uncover opportunities to grow. Whether it’s managing costs, trying new ideas, or tapping into available programs, you’ll find practical insights to put into practice today.
When producers talk about productivity, it is easy to think about bigger yields. However, productivity is about making the most of what you already have. That means reducing waste, cutting costs, and finding efficiencies that allow the farm to do more with less.
Margins are under pressure. Input costs keep rising, while commodity prices move in the other direction. It’s a story producers have heard many times before, and it can feel like the same challenge repeating itself. That is exactly the point. Productivity isn’t a one-time solution, but an ongoing discipline that helps farms push through cycles and come out stronger.
Improving productivity does not always mean major change. Sometimes it is about rethinking a process that has been in place for years. Other times it is about testing new tools or learning from what neighbours are doing. Small adjustments can have a big impact over time.
Here are practical ways to strengthen productivity and set your farm up for long-term success.
Soil health is the foundation
Productivity begins with what is under your boots. Healthy soil holds water and nutrients to support stronger plants, keeping fields resilient in tough years. Without it, every other effort is just a band-aid solution.
Decades of continuous cropping and heavy tillage wore down organic matter across much of Canada, leaving weaker land behind. In recent years, farmers who shifted to cover cropping and reduced tillage have started to reverse that trend. The result is soil that stores more moisture, bounces back faster after stress, and produces more consistent yields.
Here are a few practices to start shifting your soil toward long-term health:
- Running regular soil tests to track fertility and structure
- Matching inputs to what your fields actually need
- Returning organic matter to the soil whenever possible
- Exploring reduced tillage or cover crops where they fit your system
These actions are a starting line to help you answer: where can your fields improve, and what is the most practical way to get there? Framed this way, soil health becomes a productivity strategy that pays back year after year.
Measure before you manage
It's easy to assume you know where the bottlenecks are on your farm. However, assumptions often miss the mark. Tracking what happens across the operation, from seed costs to harvest timing, shows what is working and what is holding you back.
Digital tools now make it easier to pull insights from data. Even small shifts, such as knowing your cost per acre more accurately, can change how you prioritize investments. The point is not to track for the sake of tracking, but to uncover where you are losing efficiency and where you can get more return from the same resources.
Ask whether your measurements are giving you the full picture. If not, it may be time to adjust how you collect and use information so you can make better decisions and plan future investments with confidence.
Focus on operational efficiency
Every producer knows the sting of rising input costs. Fertilizer, fuel, and equipment prices rarely move in your favour. That is why efficiency remains one of the most reliable levers for productivity.
Look for ways to cut waste without hurting yields. That might mean calibrating equipment more often, adjusting seeding rates, or finding ways to do more with fewer passes across the field.
Simple changes in how you run equipment and manage field work can deliver real savings:
- Reviewing equipment settings regularly, since small errors can cost thousands
- Watching for overlap in field passes and reducing it where possible
- Keeping machinery well-maintained to avoid breakdowns during crunch time
It’s in the everyday adjustments that move your farm closer to your goals.
Build resilience into your crop plan
No two years are the same. Weather swings, market shocks, and input shortages remind us that flexibility matters. Building resilience into your crop plan does not eliminate risk, but it gives you more ways to respond.
Diversification helps. So does staggering planting dates or mixing short- and long-season varieties. Another way is crop testing. Always keeping a few test plots allows you to experiment with new practices or genetics on a small scale before expanding them across the farm.
When you think about next year, you’ll also want to consider how your plan will hold up if the season turns dry, wet, or markets shift unexpectedly. Planning for resilience gives you options and helps protect profitability when the unexpected happens.
Manage costs with discipline
Profitability is often less about what you earn and more about what you keep. Producers know the pressure of big revenue swings, which makes disciplined cost management one of the best tools for protecting margins.
Key practices include:
- Separating fixed and variable costs so you know what can be adjusted quickly
- Reviewing input purchases for value, not just price
- Tracking debt servicing and refinancing when rates shift
Staying disciplined does not mean cutting every cost. It means being deliberate about which costs deliver value and which do not.
Keep learning and testing
Farming has always been a business of learning. The most successful producers find ways to absorb new ideas and test them on their own ground.
Think about trying things like:
- Attending conferences to hear about new research and technologies
- Listening to farm-focused podcasts during travel or fieldwork
- Reading publications that highlight new trends and practices
- Joining farmer groups to benchmark against industry standards and learn from peers
- Keeping test plots each year to try out new crops, inputs, or management approaches
The goal is not to follow every new idea, but to keep your farm positioned to adapt quickly when something promising emerges.
Tap into government incentives
Public programs can support innovation and productivity on the farm, yet they are often underused. Many producers qualify for grants, cost-sharing programs, or tax credits that make investments in technology and efficiency more affordable.
Examples include the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program, which provides tax incentives for eligible projects, and various cost-share programs that offset the expense of equipment or sustainability practices. Exploring these options requires effort, but the payoff can be significant.
Explore economies of scale
For some farms, productivity gains come from growing bigger or partnering with others. That does not always mean selling to the highest bidder. In many cases, it means keeping family farms together as a larger operating unit or forming joint ventures with neighbours.
Partnerships can take many forms:
- Strategic partnerships with other farms to share equipment or expertise
- Financial partnerships with pension funds or investors to expand capacity
- Philanthropic partnerships with foundations that align with agricultural sustainability
The right structure depends on your goals and your community. What matters is recognizing that scale, when managed well, can improve efficiency and provide a platform for the next generation.
Moving forward
Farm productivity is not solved with a single practice or season. It’s a perspective of commitment, perseverance, and curiosity. By focusing on soil health, measuring carefully, managing costs, and testing new ideas, farms can stay competitive even when conditions turn against them.
The opportunities are there. Farm Credit Canada (FCC) recently noted that rekindling productivity growth could add $30 billion to Canadian agriculture over the next decade. That potential will not come from a single breakthrough, but from small improvements across farms like yours.
Putting these strategies to work can lead to meaningful results. The question is which ones make the most sense for your farm today, and how to put them into action.
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