Using Custom Farming to Boost ProfitabilityThank you for listening to us.  We know that time is the most valuable resource and greatly appreciate you using your time to consume our content.Also, thank you for reviewing and sharing our podcast with your family, friends and neighbors.  That means the world to us.Online review: “What a great format you have put together for any business person inside or outside of agriculture to listen to and learn from!” Answer questionsHow can I boost my farm’s profitability through custom farming?We will attack this as our topic of discussion today.What’s working for Ag – listener or farmer feedbackMoville, Iowa  - Hungry Canyon - Cards and gifts for those who work in acres not in hoursMelissa Keyes Nelson  @MelNelKeyes  www.hungrycanyondesign.comOriginally from Nebraska and transplanted to NW Iowa where she lives with her Husband Mark and son Roy.  She started her Agriculture Educational Non-Profit.  She has a background of being creative and entrepreneurial spirit and is able to put a unique spin on everyday items.  Melissa takes pride in creating authentic and accurate agriculture-based cards, gifts, and home decor.  How did you decide to start this business to compliment your family farm?Valentines Day for her husbandDo you do all the creating yourself?The designs are made by Melissa and the products are made by a company that employs individuals with developmental disabilities.How does having this business help your family’s farm succeed?…What is the most difficult challenge about running an online retail business?…What advice would you have for the listener who is thinking about starting or expanding their online retail business?…What are you and your husband most proud of on your farm?…Please share any final comments and how our listeners can find you for questions or any interest in ordering your products. Thank you!Main Topic- How can custom farming work for your farm and increase farming profitability?Custom work as defined: Custom farming services means the performance of an activity, defined as farming in this section, for a farmer for a fee. The fee may include a cash payment, a share of the harvest or other valuable consideration.This means you could be using custom farming practices to benefit your farm in 2 different ways.  Either by performing the tasks for others or by hiring someone else to perform the task for you.You will need to step back and do a 360 review of your farming operation before making this decision.  As we said at the beginning of the podcast that we know time is the most valuable resource, so part of this review will be to consider:How much time do you have to devote to performing custom farming tasks?Do you have staff or employees that are under employed?Have you struggled to get a part of your farming done timely in the past?Do you know of others in the area expressing a need for tasks to be completed?Are you adequately equipped to perform more tasks, need to upgrade, need to buy?Is there a practice you want to learn, try, or improve but want to try before your buy?Once you do a 360 degree review of your farm as it is now you’ll be able to take the next steps necessary.Example:  My family used to be a farrow to finish hog farm.  My parents chose a time to expand their operation when I was a young child. They did a review similar to this knowing with a limited labor force they would need to incorporate some custom farming practices.  Because they believed the breeding and farrowing processes were the most important they elected to perform those tasks themselves and hired other farmers to nursery and finish part of the production for them.  They knew they didn’t have the time to do all the jobs well and this was the solution.This could be the same when you look at getting the crops in the ground this spring.  Possibly custom tillage or pre-emergent chemical application could be beneficial.Example: Another hog example, had a client include me on a decision/fa