Iowa State University Extension planned 20 three-day courses on it this winter and held just three. Strategic planning may seem like medicine that induces sleep, but it's a powerful remedy that could keep your business from slipping into a deadly decline. Many producers find the process an invigorating challenge. Try these books, and you'll see that most aren't such bad medicine. Some, such as Smart Growth, are very readable.
Strategic planning is a fancy term for using long-range planning to stay competitive.
You're already thinking strategically. Strategic planning is just an organized way of looking at the competitiveness of your farm and the direction your industry is heading. Part of strategic planning involves SWOT analysis. That stands for looking at the Strengths and Weaknesses of your own business and the Opportunities and Threats that are out there in your part of agriculture. Agriculture has long been an efficient, low-cost commodity industry that does things right.