2026 Success Is Planned in August

August isn’t just the tail end of a crop season, it’s the beginning of the next one.

With crops in the field and a season’s worth of observations fresh in your mind, August gives you the perfect combination of hindsight and foresight. It’s the only time of year when you can look backward and forward with clarity and that makes August the most powerful month for crop planning.

Use the G.D.D. Framework to Evaluate This Season

Before you move forward, take time to evaluate what happened in each field using the Good, Difficult, Different Method:

• Good – What went right this year that should stay in the plan? These are the wins worth repeating.

• Difficult – What proved challenging that needs improvement? Think herbicide, fertility and hybrid portfolio strategies

• Different – What just didn’t work and needs to be scrapped or completely rethought?

  
  

This isn’t just a review, it's a strategic lens to refine your system and drive consistent gains year after year.

Build Your Hybrid Portfolio: Think like a Mutual Fund Manager

Now is the time to re-evaluate your hybrid portfolio and the smart move isn’t chasing this year’s top performer. No two years are the same, and data from a single season will always be skewed due to weather patterns, disease pressure, and the 1000 uncontrollable variables we face each year.

Instead, approach hybrid selection like a mutual fund manager:

• Use local - multi-year performance data

• Identify top performers over time, not just in one season

• Add new hybrids with strong potential, and retire the underperformers

• Avoid over-weighting any single hybrid so that one miss doesn’t drag down your farm average

  
  

A well-balanced portfolio protects your ROI, limits your downside risk, and elevates your whole-farm yield performance.

Plan Now to Reduce Stress Later

We all say, “Once the combines stop rolling, we’ll get the plan together.” But October turns into November, Thanksgiving turns into Christmas, and before you know it, it’s February and you're making fertilizer and herbicide decisions on the fly.

August is the one window that gives you enough time and clarity to plan with purpose. When you plan now, you have: 

• Access to objective data not skewed by this year's performance

• Access to any product that fits: shortages and availability aren’t a thing because no one else is planning or placing orders for next year

• More time to research and make decisions on new products and practices you want to use on your farm

• Less stress in the spring because all your decisions are made in advance and all you have to do is execute your plan

  
  

The decisions you make in August determine whether you hit the ground running or spend the spring playing catch-up.

At Axis Seed – Red Barn, we believe success is planned — not hoped for.

Let’s start putting together your field-by-field plans today, using the Max Yield System to build consistency, protect your yield, and give you one less thing to worry about next year.