400. Farm Business Farm Management’s Dwight Raab on data-driven decisions + balancing innovation with financial management

From market volatility to high input costs and beyond, farmers have faced a series of unique challenges -- and farm management is something they need and want to get a good grasp on for their operations. Looking ahead to 2026, we are joined by Dwight Raab, Advisor to Farm Business Farm Management, to examine the balance between innovation adoption and financial management. We get into:  

• A high-level perspective on the work FBFM does to serve Midwest farmers through data-driven decisions 
• What the year has looked like for their farmers and how that’s informed their decision making for 2026 
• Tax policies that are changing and how the One Big Beautiful Bill is transforming the way people should be thinking about their farming operations 
• Out of the farmers who have operations that are doing well – what are they doing differently than others? 
• FBFM’s comprehensive farm level financial data and how those models have helped guide their decision-making processes 
• Balancing the adoption of new innovation between the realities of economic pressures for farming operations and what efficiencies could come from technologies coming on farm 
• The importance of financial literacy as farming operations switch hands over the next ten years 
• The one piece of advice Dwight would offer heading into 2026