By Greg Lamp GAME ON Studying ag’s business landscape helps farmers and co-op leaders plan for the future. W hen Steve Hettinger thinks about his family’s future with their Philo, Ill., farming operation, he’s always factoring in ways to boost efficiencies. It’s a never-ending process. Since two-thirds of the operation’s 6,000 acres is cash-rented, he says, “I’m always thinking about how we can be diversifi ed enough. At the same time, I’m looking for ways we can align with neighbors who have our same work ethic to lessen our risks. And there’s a lot of risk when you don’t own all of your own ground.” What reinforced this thought process for Hettinger was a program called Game On, offered by his local cooperative, United Prairie, at Tolono, Ill. He’s also a director of the co-op. Game On educates audiences on the competitive retail industry and challenges that are creating change in the co-op marketplace. It includes four components: • The Players: Outlines seven tiers of competitors in the marketplace, ranging from multinational companies to small cooperatives. • The Playing Field: Ranks how sales income of an audience’s cooperative compare with revenue of other cooperatives in the state. • The Playing Conditions: Emphasizes the ever-evolving mindset needed to operate in the ag industry of the future, like how changes in water and rail availability, prices and weather could aff ect operations. • The Playbook: Suggests how to survive and thrive in a tumultuous ag retail marketplace. “Game On helped me look at what we can do on the farm to be here in 10 years,” says Hettinger. “Where do we get the resources to be in the game? “We need to be big but act small, which means we need to be at 10,000 acres to maximize effi ciencies,” he says. Hettinger farms with his two brothers. Now their sons are > Your CHS Connection 7