For some light on all this, Country Guide talked to two farms that have taken great ideas through to fruition, and we also talk to agricultural investors and business mentors who are looking to help. Can you really know ahead of time which ideas will succeed?

Sheldon Creek Dairy: Ask the right questions

Perseverance and willingness to take a risk are among the personal qualities that John and Bonnie den Haan of Sheldon Creek Dairy embrace, and they know these qualities have helped them successfully broaden their milk sales into a full line of dairy products, available in hundreds of stores across the province. 

And they’ve got another key success trait too: the ability to ask the right questions over and over again.

Appropriately, since this is a story about the den Haans, it all starts with the consumer. With their farm just an hour from the northern edge of Toronto, and with their busy farm-gate sweet corn business, the den Haans had noticed they were getting potential customers coming to the farm looking for fresh, raw milk. It seemed a ready-made market, and Bonnie and John started looking into how they could legally meet this demand. 

The first step involved identifying and visiting other farms with on-site processing. “We spent a lot of time learning from others,” says John. “And then it was just an adventure of trying to find a team to work with, as far as equipment and building.”

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Listening to others has been crucial to their success. “You have to know what you don’t know and be willing to find out,” Bonnie says. That’s a bigger job than anyone might think, and you have to enjoy doing it to make it successful. “Talk to everyone,” Bonnie says, “especially the contractors coming on your farm — the electrician, the food safety inspector, the robotic repair person, the feed specialist and the crop advisor. Everyone can provide you with knowledge and networks.”

“Have a really good relationship with your lender,” Bonnie adds. “Your partners need to be aware of what’s happening, good or bad.”

The den Haans speak from years of experience. They got used to debt just nine months after their wedding when their barn burned down. Years later, when they wanted to expand into processing, they had both a strong credit rating, and trust with a lender. 

Another key to their success is that they address issues immediately. And they utilize those around them to help. “For example, if a quality issue pops up in one of our products that we haven’t seen before, we’re on the phone to our cleaning chemical guy, the food scientists, the biochemist, everyone necessary, to get it fixed immediately,” says Bonnie.

“We’ve realized people who like to solve problems love having problems to solve.” 

One of the early questions den Haans had to address was how to deliver pasteurized milk that tasted as close as possible to the raw milk their customers wanted. The answer lay in developing a process where they pasteurize the milk at just 72 degrees Celsius for 16 seconds so the protein membrane of the fat globule remains intact.

Since it is non-homogenized, the cream rises to the top on their whole milk, showing that it is still in its natural form. All their products including A2 milk, flavoured creamers, yogurt and kefir, use this whole milk as their staring point. 

The farm operation is very much a family business. John inherited the farm from his parents, although it was a beef operation then. Now both of their daughters are taking over the reins with their young families.

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“Having our daughters join us full-time has allowed us to expand. Emily manages the Haanview Farms operation and Marianne handles everything on the Sheldon Creek side, including the building (of) a new facility which will quadruple our size,” Bonnie says. “The girls bring new energy and excitement and see lots of opportunities.”

Onward Ranch: Take a look beyond

Ingrid Johnston and her husband Ty operate Onward Ranch, a 4,500-acre cattle ranch near Williams Lake, B.C. Recently they have started delivering the first ever grass-fed beef boxes in the province.

It all started with a key observation. During a chat with a group of local farmers who all sell beef, the Johnstons noticed something they hadn’t really paid much attention to before. The beef everyone kept for themselves (in their minds, the best meat) was from animals which were solely and slowly raised on pasture.

The Johnstons asked themselves, why shouldn’t the consumer have access to this amazingly tasty meat? 

“We knew that the grazing on our ranch was stellar, and that the quality of grass was a major strength for our land,” Ingrid says. “Not everyone can go grass-fed and grass-finished and do it properly.”

In essence, their decision to launch the delivery business was the culmination of 20 years of ranching together, she says. “We had focused so much on sustainable, regenerative and natural practices, and knew this was a direction we wanted to take.”

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They soon learned, though, that it’s one thing to sell direct from the farm or at a farmers market; a delivery service is much harder and the Johnstons (like the den Haans) needed to look beyond Canada to find answers to many of their questions.

“Our whole journey with connecting and shipping directly to families has been very liquid and very open-minded,” says Ingrid. “Because there was no template in B.C., we have had to be flexible and learn as we go. We realized that some packaging materials were simply not available in Canada, for example.” 

Then Ingrid got a chance to travel and learn through a Nuffield Canada scholarship in 2022. Her studies focused on how primary producers can direct market their farm products and ship to consumers without using a distribution company, and she credits Nuffield for giving her a global view on this situation. 

“Each place I have visited has its own style of connecting rural farmers to urban consumers,” she says. 

“I found that looking in diverse places has proved extremely interesting and beneficial. Sometimes it isn’t someone directly in your industry that teaches you the most. For example, learning how a fisherman might ship his tuna, or a coffee plantation connects with their customers directly, all have been thought-provoking for our business. Having an open mind is so crucial to learning.” 

Looking back, the Johnstons wish they had started earlier and built a market alongside growing their herd. Instead they focused strictly on agriculture excellence first, including genetics and land management. In the U.S., by contrast, new producers start immediately with direct-to-consumer connections, enabling the farms and the markets to grow and adapt together.

Now, though, it’s on to the next step. The Johnstons recently built an on-farm kitchen and they plan to offer marinades, rubs and spices to complement their beef, all in line with their business philosophy.

The number one thing, Ingrid says, has been approaching “farm to door” as a slow game. “Grow incrementally with loyal customers,” she says. “Our goals are measured in one-year and even five-year increments. Humbleness, flexibility and a willingness to serve and help others have been important traits.” 

Financing the dream

On top of perseverance and lots of research, great ideas require money and outside mentorship. Farmers aren’t necessarily good at asking for either, so how to go about looking for investors?

First, arm yourself with the right attitude, says Dave Smardon, president and CEO of Bioenterprise, a Guelph, Ont.-based network of entrepreneurs, accelerators, and service partners with a mandate to drive innovation across Canada in the agri-tech and food industries.

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Attitude is crucial, Smardon says. “You want somebody that’s very passionate about what they do, but also has a desire and willingness to listen and to take our advice.

“Everybody thinks they just need money from us, but really it’s human resources. We spend a lot of time on finding a good business founder, but then they require people with good technical, financial, marketing, sales and other skills. It’s about human resource development and talent development.”

The view is the same at London, Ont.-based RH Accelerator, which sees its mission as “helping business owners, founders and the teams in early-stage companies achieve their dreams.”

“We are operated by business owners who have succeeded,” the RH Accelerator website says. “We invest in the next generation of companies and only profit when our companies succeed.” 

To co-founder Joe Dales, the focus starts with personality, and it can be easy to spot the potential winners. 

“A lot of people bring ideas to me and 80 per cent of them don’t do the follow-up work I suggest,” Dales says. “I have to determine if the person has the skills, the passion, the perseverance, the ability to learn and the understanding that at the beginning of any new business, one may be working for a penny an hour.”

Second to attitude for Smardon comes a solid understanding of the potential customer base. If it’s an agricultural idea, he says, “It may work well on your farm, but does it on neighbouring farms?” 

And what if it’s an idea that isn’t being pitched at other farmers?

“It has to be an innovative way of doing something for us to invest,” Smardon says. “If someone comes to us with a new yogurt product, we don’t really care, as that market is saturated. If someone comes to us with a new way of manufacturing that yogurt product which reduces the amount of water or energy used, then we are interested.” 

Bioenterprise also looks at how long it will take to get from an idea to the marketplace. They are interested in something that can be developed and adopted by the industry within approximately three years. And by industry they mean a big market, outside of just Canada. 

So how does a farmer start the conversation with investors like Dales and Smardon? Both say they are always willing to take calls, email and meetings. Smardon adds, “We (Bioenterprise) will talk to everybody and anybody.” Both Bioenterprise and RH Accelerator groups are always networking. They attend farm shows and sponsor events where there are often line-ups of people wanting to talk. 

Normally, says Smardon, once the initial connection is made, the budding entrepreneur will get introduced to an innovation advisor. Bioenterprise has advisors across many industries, so if the idea involves the dairy industry, the person will be put into touch with an advisor with dairy knowledge and networks. 

In that initial conversation they learn about the uniqueness and viability of the idea and gauge the characteristics of the person. From there, there’s a whole lot of behind the scenes work to evaluate the idea and gather essential information. 

Along the way, it’s also essential to get strong on the numbers. Having a solid financial analysis is critical for Dales. “It’s a big piece.” 

But that’s what it is … one of the essential pieces. Says Dales: “We want to see a clearly identified analysis of the customer, existing competitors, the available marketplace and the financials.”

The post Inspiring ideas on the farm appeared first on Country Guide.

But it all has to start with a choice. Which program should you sign up for?

The choice is wide. Do you need hard business skills, like learning financial and organizational skills to keep the business performing at its peak? Or do you need soft skills to better manage staff, build loyalty and grow your partnerships?

Options range all the way from youth programs like 4H and the Cattle Young Leaders programs to mid-career programs like CTEAM and a full range of workshops, e-courses and conferences, plus the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP), the National Farm Leadership Program (NFLP) and the Nuffield Canada Agricultural Scholarship as three premier offerings.

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Since its formation in 1984, close to 500 Ontario farmers and agri-business operators have completed the 18-month AALP program. The experience consists of six to seven in-person seminars across the province, two virtual Zoom gatherings with global agri-food leaders, and two study tours — one North American (five to 10 days) and one international (10 to 14 days). 

Topics range from government and political systems to marketing, communications, negotiating and the dynamics of change, plus much more. 

Program director Gabe Ferguson says AALP is “a personal leadership journey … Each class is created with attention to the diversity of the participants so peer-to-peer mentorship, interrelationships, and a broad network are developed.”

AALP targets people in the (primarily) Ontario agricultural industry between the ages of 25 and 55 who want to invest in themselves to reach their potential, and also want to help those around them to do the same. Up to 30 participants are recruited for each class. 

Visit ruralontarioinstitute.ca/aalp/ for more on AALP.

While AALP concentrates on group learning and travel, Nuffield Canada caters to those who will explore the world individually. This $20,000 scholarship provides a unique opportunity to mid-career individuals in agriculture, whether in primary production, industry or governance to:

• Tap into one of the world’s most extensive food and farming networks
• Achieve personal development through experiential learning, travel and studya
• Deliver long-term benefits to Canadian agriculture through what they learn 

“The program focuses on the goal of attracting scholars who are ready to challenge themselves in a program of international travel and study,” says Theresa Whalen, executive director of Nuffield Canada.

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Nuffield Canada is part of the larger Nuffield International community with members from Argentina to Zimbabwe. 

Steven Larocque, a well-known Alberta crop advisor and owner of Beyond Agronomy, was a 2008 Nuffield Canada scholar. His study led him to be amongst the first to implement controlled traffic in Western Canada. 

When Larocque finished his scholarship, he stated “After my two years the world is smaller, my business is more profitable and the farmers who hear my story are inspired. I can’t say enough about the opportunities that continue to generate through this wonderful network of like-minded passionate people.”

The scholarship requires a minimum of 10 weeks travel, of which six must be consecutive, and must be completed within 24 months. Recipients can come from any field of agriculture including livestock, grain or vegetable production, and they may work in a variety of roles within the industry, including owners, managers, employees, administrators or civil servants.

Applicants apply with a proposal covering what they wish to study and why it is relevant to Canadian agriculture. Upon completion of the scholarship, a written paper and verbal presentation are made and scholars are expected to promote their new knowledge across their industry. 

They are also expected to give back to the program by helping to recruit new scholars and serving on the national board or committees. 

John Cote, a 2019 Nuffield Canada Scholar from Saskatchewan who is co-owner of Black Fox Farm & Distillery, says “The key to success in life and business is continuous learning. Nuffield offers this opportunity to grow and learn, but more importantly it introduces you to a network of amazing individuals who share the same passion.

“Nuffield not only allows you to grow as an individual but allows your team at home to gain from the experience as well. By encouraging you to be away from your business, you empower your team by your absence and by sharing your journey with them.”

More information about Nuffield Canada can be found at nuffield.ca.

Farm Management Canada, in partnership with LeaderShift, a Manitoba-based leadership development firm, offers three farm leadership opportunities, the foremost being the National Farm Leadership Program (NFLP). 

The NFLP consists of 11 weeks of online programming (January to April) including weekly meetings to apply the teachings. 

In March, there’s an in-person residency that provides a safe learning environment to practice key skills. Monthly group and personal coaching continues for the remainder of the calendar year to help participants realize positive change in real time. 

The program’s goal is to deliver practical tools and techniques that help participants become the best version of themselves and to lead where and when it matters — navigating complex issues, handling emotional or difficult situations and people (including yourself), empowering others and building personal resiliency.

Participants say the program has benefited them both professionally and personally. Some indicate it has made them not only better people to work with, but improved their marriage and family life as well. 

Others say it helped identify unhealthy work habits which had been affecting not only themselves but their team, peers and family, and more participants became less fearful of conflict, which enabled them to have more open conversations and to respond to difficult situations more appropriately. 

In 2021, an alumni program, NFLP 2 was launched to help participants stay in practice and re-take their leadership effectiveness assessment to identify additional areas of growth. 

Also in 2021, a one-month online only leadership program called InSight was launched as a precursor to the National Farm Leadership Program. It’s designed to help participants understand the root causes of workplace drama and how people can adapt their behaviours for better results.

Visit leader-shift.ca/ for information on all of these programs. 

Many universities and colleges, as well as ministries of agriculture across the country also have leadership programs, albeit some are not specifically geared towards farmers. The University of Alberta offers a general certificate in leadership, as do Conestoga College and the University of Guelph in Ontario.

While specific agriculturally focused leadership training programs may not be numerous across the country, farm managers have many more options when it comes to technical and business management skills development opportunities. Many are listed at the National Farm Business Management Resource Centre at takeanewapproach.ca.

Ag-based college and university often offer short training programs, sometimes for free. 

Recently the University of Guelph developed a Foundations in Agricultural Management course which is advertised as being an opportunity for participants to “explore agricultural business strategy and planning, farm management, succession planning and financial fundamentals.” It is free, on line and can be done at an individual pace. 

Longer established is the Canadian Total Excellence in Agricultural Management (CTEAM) program offered through the Agri-Food Management Excellence organization which aims to help farmers improve their management skills. 

Over 20 days, participants learn to make better decisions about strategy, finance, marketing, operations, human resources, succession and other business functions. CTEAM exposes participants to successful agribusiness operations through tours during its four modules across Canada. 

Past participants say one of the biggest benefits of the CTEAM program is that their real-life data is compared against national and regional benchmarks. By analyzing their own strengths and weaknesses over the process of the course, they develop a strategic and operational plan for their farm with which they can hit the ground running.

Amy Cronin of Bluevale, Ont., has participated in AALP, CTEAM and is currently doing a Nuffield Scholarship. She believes that each of the programs helped form her thinking, but in different ways. 

She says “Until AALP, my days were filled with farming and family. AALP broadened my perspectives and allowed me to explore my leadership skill set which directly influenced my decision to enter into ag leadership locally, provincially and federally. It was through CTEAM that my husband and I began to delve into the numbers and think about how to break away from our self-learned management styles.”

Nuffield is a different program, and although she is currently in the middle of it, she feels it is stretching her in new ways. “I’m excited to learn from people around the world.”

It isn’t that one program is better than the others, Cronin says. Each program offers training that has influenced what she brings to the farm and what she contributes to her community. “The combination of the three (programs), in addition to my commitment to constantly better myself, has helped to make our farm what it is today.” 

At Farm Management Canada, executive director Heather Watson, says farmers should look at how programs increase awareness and interest, and at how they are also designed to truly affect change. There’s a need for both, she says, “to meet farmers where they are in their learning journey and help them navigate towards improving their business skills and practices.”

Farm Management Canada’s flagship informational programs include the national Agricultural Excellence Conference. On the other hand, their Roots to Success Risk Management Training program, for example, is designed to take learning one step further. It not only changes how farmers think about managing farm risk but helps them adopt risk management practices on the farm. 

Watson sees Nuffield, AALP, NFLP and CTEAM as highly complementary. “Any farm operation requires both business management on one side and then leadership on the other. ”

Also don’t overlook that while support provincial grants to enroll in skills development training have been decreasing, there are still some regions that offer support. Farmers in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswich, Newfoundland, P.E.I., and Yukon Territory may be eligible for up to $2,500 cost-share funding. 

The Canada Job Grant is a federal incentive that also helps reduce the costs associated with third-party training programs. Support varies from province to province. In most provinces, a business can receive up to 100 per cent of eligible training costs to implement training programs that lead to improved skill sets, and farms as recognized employers are eligible to apply for the program.

The post Making a smart choice appeared first on Country Guide.

Seeing different ways of farming and working can work a miracle for a farmer. So can experiencing different cuisines and cultures, learning new travel skills, and expanding their networks and friendships.

Sometimes, too, the changes go even deeper.

Cheryl Hazenburg, a 2014 Nuffield Canada scholar, travelled through Europe investigating her topic of traceability in the beef sector. One of her stops included Ireland where she was able to catch up with some fellow Nuffielders.

It was just luck that Irish dairy farmer Kenneth Bray was a friend of those Nuffielders. Then, through the power of social media, he and Cheryl began connecting. Fast-forward a couple of years and now they both call Ireland home, living on Kenneth’s family farm in Westmeath, Ireland, with their two -month-old daughter Keelin.

Similarly, but on a storyline of their own, Kristina Polziehn fell in love with Aussie scholar Glenn Wormald on a six-week around-the-world tour.

Kristina and Glenn had met at the international scholars conference in Brazil in March 2017. After the conference, both joined an Australian-led Global Focus tour for a six-week around-the-world marathon visiting farms, businesses, other scholars, dignitaries and more in a packed schedule.

It was the kind of travel where you either thrive on the contact with your fellow travellers, or you find yourself sometimes seeking some quiet time alone. Glenn and Kristina, as you’ll see in a minute, found love.

Now the couple live near Edmonton while Kristina pursues a PhD in crop modelling for canola, as well as continuing with her crop consulting business Axiom Agronomy. With three kids under four years old, including two-year-old twin boys, Glenn is currently managing the home-front, giving up his career in the Australian aquaculture industry to support Kristina’s work.

Cheryl and Kenneth are active agricultural leaders. Cheryl remains involved with Nuffield Canada, and is also a member of the Global Farmers’ Network. Kenneth is County Chair of the Irish Farmers’ Association and sits on the National Liquid Milk Committee, which negotiates annual milk contracts.

Kenneth says he was born to be a farmer and was into cows as soon as he was old enough to milk. Today he is the eighth generation to farm the same land.

Cheryl was deeply rooted too, growing up on her family’s beef farm in Ontario. Her career has revolved around working for breed organizations, something she continues in Ireland with her job as breed secretary of the Irish Shorthorn Society. Together they run the dairy farm milking about 70 head on 40 ha (100 acres) seasonally.

Currently the cows calve in two blocks in spring and fall, but will be switched to only fall calving this year. With most dairy farmers concentrating on spring calving, there is a shortage of liquid milk in December through February, a market they can now serve.

Moving to fall calving will only benefit the family too, says Cheryl. “We’re both new parents and we want to take a step back to have more family time. Calving once a year also means that the cows will be dry for the month of August which will make us able to come home to Canada for a couple of weeks, as we won’t have the work, and Keelin will be off of school. That’s something we’re looking forward to.”

What have they learned in their moves across oceans

Both couples say that marrying someone from abroad has brought both challenges and opportunities.

Cheryl and Kenneth also see the unique skills they gained from marrying abroad. Kenneth credits Cheryl for helping him move to a stricter culling system for unproductive or infertile cows and for helping him take a deeper look at how the farm could boost its profitability.

“Cheryl has driven profitability home to me and that unproductive cows must go as soon as possible. I used to carry cows longer than I should have. She’s got me thinking differently. When we were first married, we were farming a bit more land, and Cheryl questioned why. We sat down, did the figures and she was right, so we dropped it. We’ve also shrunk cow numbers slightly, but we’re more profitable.”

Kenneth also learned the need for farm diversification, so now they have some beef cattle and sell pasture-raised meat. Cheryl has also encouraged Kenneth to change from a ryegrass- and clover-based pasture crop to a multi-species one, and dropped annual tillage work. She also brought her “Canadian snow skills” which were highly useful during a massive snow storm in 2018.

Cheryl jokes, “I brought the ability to thaw water lines with my hair dryer!”

From Cheryl’s perspective, farming in Ireland is completely different and she’s learning a lot about grass and forage management. Almost everything is pasture-based with low costs and seasonal calving. She relates the system to more of a New Zealand style where farmers have to be as efficient as possible as they have to sell milk based on world prices.

The biggest advantage she notes is the country’s ability to grow grass. It’s common to see pastures being grazed for 40 or more years, although she says the level of fertilizer used is much greater than she was used to. She hopes moving to multi-species forages will help lower these costs.

“It’s a completely different way of farming here. I’m still wrapping my head around it and don’t fully understand it. In terms of grass management stuff, there are similarities but there’s so many differences in terms of managing the grass to get the most out of it, and keeping our costs so much lower than our system at home. You think that you know farming when you’ve been in it your whole life and then you come over here and have no idea how to even function here. I’m relearning everything.”

Cheryl also notes the stringent farming rules set down by the European Union around environmental protection. Farmers are limited in the amount of nitrogen that can be applied annually, they must adopt low-emission slurry methods and avoid applications between October and January.

Nor can they fence waterways, and they are banned from annual hedge cutting.

“The regulations just keep getting harder and harder,” Kenneth says. “One starts questioning how much longer we can actually go on. There is also a very big anti-dairy farm movement in this country that is determined to shut us down or take us back 40 or 50 years. According to this movement, farming is the reason behind climate change here. They have a very strong lobby at the European level as well and, and can get laws passed.”

While the regulations are getting stricter, Cheryl also sees the benefits of the EU. In 2018, her first year of farming in Ireland there was a drought, and where we in Canada would have cut cow numbers, Irish farmers just asked the EU for more money to buy feed. “It just kind of blew my mind that here farmers just looked for more government handouts,” she says.

They both know though that those payments are dwindling as the EU reprioritizes its spending.

In Canada, meanwhile, Kristina says Glenn has brought new perspectives to her as well.

“We do talk a lot about different productions systems. Glen is a problem-solver and a technical thinker. While shrimp farming differs a lot to my work with canola, in the end we’re both trying to achieve the same thing, increased production through better management. My clients are large operations. Some farm 20 to 30,000 acres. I would say they are top farm managers, but they look to me to help tweak things or to talk through ideas.”

“Glenn has dealt more with teams than I have, so his skills with groups and training are helping me aid farmers working through succession issues and to do some mentoring of younger farmers. Coaching and helping with team building is becoming more a part of my job as an agronomist.”

As for Glenn, he credits Kristina for bringing an academic perspective to his thinking. “Coming in with little experience of academia, I had an opinion that professors and researchers were a bit frosty, and very politically correct. Now I see the way they think is just them breaking things down with a different logic.

“I’m a problem-solver. I look for solutions and work to ensure that the problem doesn’t happen again. So I have a very sort of closeup view of what happens in my world, where in Kristina’s, she works with numbers. She sees the matrix.”

Kristina also loves the fact that the kids have dual citizenship. “They have a great opportunity to experience the world … That’s the part that excites me as a parent. We’ve just given them this huge golden opportunity. They can even do their education in either country.”

Glenn is enjoying the Canadian experience, although maybe not the snow since part of the reason he got into shrimp farming was because it took place in a tropical environment.

What does the future hold

For Kenneth and Cheryl the goal is to keep making their farm more profitable, which includes breeding goals including the introduction of Jersey/Holstein crosses to make the cows smaller.

“We’d like to get to a situation where we produce 90 to 100 per cent of the cow’s body weight in milk solids,” Cheryl says.

They are also looking to decrease the amount of feed (grain, pellets and some silage) they need to buy with the goal of producing 90 to 95 per cent of their own.

Kristina and Glenn will remain in Edmonton; Kristina’s PhD will take another three to four years to complete. Kristina hopes that Glenn can build his own consulting business in the aquaculture industry, but for right now finding a work-life balance is the key.

“It would be a bit of a shame to not be able to utilize his kind of experience with developing and implementing performance protocols and quality control,” she says. “Ultimately, my goal would be for us to have a life that we can share in both countries.

“We have looked into getting into the developing shrimp industry here and we put together some business plans … That was before the twins arrived though!” 

The post Flying into love appeared first on Country Guide.

We have similar social problems, too, including housing prices and shortages, inflation, urbanization, environmental concerns and the “little brother” syndrome that comes with living so close to much larger countries, us to the United States and them to Australia and China.

Also key, though, is that both New Zealand and Canada have been eyed by Asian corporations wanting to expand their land and food processing capabilities

Farmer vs. corporation – a battle for land

Meet Ed Pinckney, a farmer and 2020 Nuffield scholar from New Zealand who unexpectedly found himself going up against a large Chinese company for the purchase of Jericho Station, a 1,359 ha (3,358 acre) farm in the Northern Southland region of the South Island, near Te Anau. 

Our story begins in 2017 when Pinckney learned that Jericho Station was up for tender by Landcorp — the New Zealand state-owned farming enterprise. Knowing that Jericho was a highly desirable location, and wanting to expand his beef and sheep operation, Pinckney submitted a tender. It wasn’t his first venture. He’d made several property purchases over the years, and he expected this acquisition to be equally simple.

He placed an offer of C$7.5 million, conditional on bank financing since another of his farms needed to be sold to ensure enough equity was raised for the purchase.

What Pinckney didn’t know until later, though, was that a second tender was being placed by a Chinese company for C$7.6 million. And it was accepted.

For the first time ever, a New Zealand government office was selling New Zealand land to a foreign entity.

In New Zealand, foreign land purchases are subject to approval by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO), which regulates the sales and control of sensitive assets, including rural, commercial, forestry and residential properties, plus business assets and fishing quota. 

To obtain OIO consent, bidders must show a “substantial and identifiable benefit” to New Zealand and pass an investor test which considers their business experience, financial position and overall character.

In 2017, according to Pinckney, “OIO didn’t have a history of declining anything and there wasn’t much scrutiny. For whatever reasons, the Chinese company was also given favourable terms, none of which were commonly seen in an open competitive farm sales process.”

A few weeks after the tender closed, Pinckney made his offer unconditional and it was accepted by Landcorp as a “back up” offer. Additionally, Pinckney submitted a land management proposal in which he detailed his land and resource management plans. He also committed to continuing to allow trekkers on existing trails, and he spelled out why it was important to have the land owned by a local farmer. The other bid had no such detail. 

Then something else unexpected happened.

At the same time as the bidding was in process, the 2017 national election was looming, and suddenly Pinckney found himself in the political spotlight.

“I didn’t intend to get political, but it became a big thing as at the time there was a lot of foreign investment in New Zealand. And it was getting a bit out of control as much of the money coming in was to purchase property for aesthetic purposes,” Pinckney says. “A great deal of good farmland was being taken out of production.”

A post on social media from a friend of Pinckney’s unintentionally went viral and got the attention of the leader of the National Party. Knowing foreign ownership was already an issue, the politician made the issue central to his campaign. Pinckney became a reluctant media star. While he didn’t personally set out to be a public figure, however, he figured all of the publicity would be to his benefit.

With the media focus, public support grew. New Zealanders heard Pinckney argue that no overseas buyer could deliver the benefits he could provide. He was a New Zealand farmer, coming from a farming family with a proven track record.

The Chinese offer was suddenly withdrawn. Pinckney took possession of Jericho in June 2018.

The publicity never felt comfortable to Pinckney, but it seems it ultimately did help — both in the purchase, and in changing the laws. And thankfully the media attention died down soon after the sale was finalized.

His victory became a symbol of sorts, helping achieve both a change in government and the tightening of foreign ownership laws. Now the OIO denies the purchase of non-urban land over 5 ha other than land already used for forestry. The law includes anyone without New Zealand citizenship or a resident visa and any company incorporated outside of New Zealand or where foreigners hold 25 percent or more of the ownership, voting or governance rights.

Canadian parallels

“We still need foreign investors. We’re reliant on them,” Pinckney says. But his experience makes him think foreign money must have limits. “Investors have put a huge amount of money into the dairy industry. They can create a lot of value in the right context, but I don’t agree with them making mass land purchases. They shouldn’t make family farm operations disadvantaged.” 

Many meat and dairy processing companies in New Zealand are foreign owned, mainly by the Chinese. It has opened up new supply chains, but there is concern that the Chinese want to to control the whole system. 

Silver Fern Farms (SFF) is one example where foreign investment has worked. Employing 7,000 people working in 14 operational plants across New Zealand, SFF processes 30 per cent of New Zealand’s lamb, beef and venison. The company is an equal partnership between the SFF Co-operative and Shanghai Maling Aquarius — a leading Chinese meat processor and distributor.

Five years after the Chinese invested $267 million for half of SFF, the meat company has recorded back-to-back record profits. The investment allowed the company to pay off debt, as well as launch a successful pasture-to-plate strategy. The business arrangement has also seen significant spending on processing capability, creating opportunities to develop new products for different customer bases.

China holds huge market potential for New Zealand. It accounted for 32 percent of New Zealand’s total exports, and the numbers in agriculture are even bigger: China takes 44 percent of New Zealand’s dairy and 41 percent of red meat. Kiwi fruit exports also rose 43 percent in one year.

While Pinckney sees China as still an expanding market, he is concerned that New Zealand is too reliant on one country. “When China doesn’t like something, they have the ability to completely handcuff us, effectively turning off the tap,” he says.

It appears he’s right. In 2016, New Zealand investigated China for dumping cheap steel into the country and China immediately threatened to slow the flow of dairy, wool and kiwi fruit imports.

China – Canada trade

Canada is similarly exposed to Chinese pressure. In 2019, following comments by Ottawa about human rights in China, China placed many restrictions on imports of Canadian agricultural products, although the numbers rebounded in 2020. Still, tensions exist which have an impact on Canadian farmers. 

According to the Canadian Canola Council, more than two years of bans and restrictions on canola exports to China have cost Canada’s industry roughly $2 billion through lost sales and lower prices. Along with banning shipments of canola from Viterra and Richardson, Beijing continues to institute numerous new regulations, along with a more aggressive regime of inspections, slowing trade with other Canadian shippers. 

Although it has since been resolved, in 2019 China also restricted nearly two-thirds of Canadian pork processing capacity.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forecasts that by 2028, China will be the largest consumer for some of Canada’s key agricultural goods such as oilseeds, soybeans, protein meals and cereals.

Pinckey might ask if we should be wary of getting too close. Or, as he would say, are Canada and China reliant on each other, whether we want to be or not. China needs assurance of food security, supply reliability and high-quality products for its massive population. Canada seeks a stable trading partner. Where lies the happy balance? 

Jericho Station now

Pinckney is a top farmer with over a decade of experience buying and improving land, something he’s carried on with the Jericho purchase.

In 2008 he started leasing the family sheep and beef property. Over the next five years, he purchased two neighbouring places, bought the home farm and doubled the carrying capacity of the land. In 2013, he sold two-thirds of the operation and purchased a rundown dairy farm which is run by a share-farmer.

In 2018, when the Jericho purchase was completed, he sold what land he had left, kept the dairy and bought the larger property. He hasn’t regretted anything. 

The station currently runs 8,000 sheep and 1,000 predominantly Angus cattle. Pinckney trades about half of his bulls for beef with the rest kept as breeding stock. In the winter, the dairy cattle from the other farm are also grazed as they are only milked seasonally — from September to June. Feed includes winter pasture and winter brassicas such as kale and swedes. 

The farm has also diversified into Manuka honey for growing health markets, and he is in the process of getting permission for nine wind turbines. 

So where does he go next?

Pinckney says he has a curious mind and is always looking for new opportunities. His goal is to make Jericho as productive as possible within an environmental window. He’s not looking to increase stock, but rather to concentrate on performance and profitability, and he notes that the forecast income from the wind farm is roughly equal to all of his other farming enterprises put together, so it has huge potential.

For him, though, sustainability also has another meaning. “My greatest challenges now are legislative with increased policies and regulations,” he says.

Actually, that might sound rather like Canada too.

The post Home ground appeared first on Country Guide.

Below, meet three farms that have successfully diversified their income streams by targeting luxury offers at some of the world’s most exclusive markets. 

You said “finger limes?”

Jade King, a 2022 Nuffielder from Australia, operates Green Valley Farms located on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. The farm raises Brangus beef cattle and Wiltipoll sheep, and they are also growers of seasonal fruits and vegetables, specializing in — wait for it — finger limes. 

Finger Limes? If you haven’t heard of them before, you’re not alone. Finger limes are native to Australia, specifically to the rainforests on the country’s northeast corner.

Finger Limes are about the size and shape of a finger and have a caviar-like citrus flesh on the inside which pops in your mouth as you eat it. 

Green Valley specializes in the Champagne Red — a native variety, of which King has 350 producing trees and about 500 recent plantings. “Not only is the Champagne Red native to the area,” King says, “it’s also highly sought after by chefs, and they keep longer, making them also ideal for export.”

That’s the upside. The downside — it takes determination to pick them because without gloves you’ll get sliced by the thorny bushes on which they bloom. 

In 2020, King’s farm received some very prominent recognition when the country’s Network Ten television channel called. They were looking for five kilos of finger limes for use on MasterChef Australia. That proved a highlight for the show, and the beginning of a finger-lime renaissance, opening the door for marketing finger limes to high-end chefs all across Australia. 

The fruit had previously been popular with Indigenous tribes who used it both for cooking and for medicinal purposes. Importantly, this also ties in with King’s personal brand and her background as an agronomist with an eco-friendly approach to healthy farming. (She also teaches agricultural science at her local school, and her students get hands-on on the farm, using portions of the land for agronomy plots.)

And, as it turns out, the marketing has been simple. Thus far, King hasn’t had to go looking for finger lime customers. Thanks to the publicity, they’re looking for her, and they’re bring their wallets. Prices range from $200 to $300 per kilogram. 

“We started finger lime production in 2014,” says King. “We sell locally, nationally and internationally to restaurants and high-end food markets. We plan to keep planting more.”

But she also knows she must upgrade both her agronomic skills and her business strategy, which are always closely linked. Over the next two years, King will use her 2022 Nuffield scholarship to meet producers in Italy, Spain, Japan and the U.S. Says King, “Understanding the agronomics will help other Australian growers establish a quality standard for marketing internationally.”

A break on the farm side

It may still be winter in Canada, but imagine yourself vacationing on a farm near Dundee, Scotland. There, The Hideway Experience operated by Nuffielder Caroline Millar, her husband Ross and two teenage children, is anything but an ordinary farm.

It’s rather more of a five-star hotel, combining the seclusion of a self-catering lodge, the gourmet delights of a farmers market, and the services of a personal concierge.

Five of these luxurious hideaways are located on the family’s 650 ha beef and sheep farm, and hosting guests is in Millar’s DNA.

“I was brought up living and breathing agri-tourism on the family farm in Perthshire,” Millar says. “Both my parents and grandparents ran farmhouse bed and breakfasts in farmhouses near Caputh in Perthshire.”

Rated 5/5 on Trip Advisor, The Hideaway Experience is described as “Scotland’s “couples only” 5-star exclusive accommodation. No children, no groups, no stag parties, just 5-star luxury lodges located at the foot of the Sidlaw Hills in Angus, just north of Dundee. 

Designed for complete privacy, rest, relaxation and fun, the hideaways have the layout and facilities of a luxury hotel suite. Guests can enjoy a dedicated spa room, outside hot tub, sauna, modern kitchen with a range of gadgets and top of the line appliances, double-sided fire and a cocktail bar. The hideaways also feature living roofs, and are powered by green energy. 

Says Millar, “We opened The Hideaway Experience in 2005 on our family farm by converting a bothy (an old farm hut) into a couple’s retreat. 

“We have since invested in three hideaways, and are about to build our fifth property. We employ six part-time and full-time staff and welcome 2,000 high-end visitors to Dundee and Angus each year. We also offer farm tours to visitors directly and via the travel trade and have plans to expand this area of our business.”

All of this doesn’t come cheap. Guest rates per night range between £360 to £475 with a minimum booking of two nights, yet the hideways are often booked out months in advance. 

Millar credits her 2012 Nuffield Scholarship for opening her eyes to the agri-tourism sector internationally and the scale of agri-tourism in other countries. 

“Although I travelled to 10 countries and was away from home for 16 weeks of the year, Italy and Austria remain, for me, two countries with a significant scale in this sector,” she says. With an emphasis on food and drink and focused on an intense agri offering with a real farmer at the heart of the customer experience, the Italian agri-tourism market has grown to C$2.5 billion. “This is what’s possible,” Millar says.

Besides the hideaways, Millar is involved with Go Rural Scotland, the Scottish Tourism Alliance and the National Farmers’ Union. She is also an international agri-tourism consultant and speaker and has done work here in Canada for the Culinary Tourism Alliance and Town of Essex in Ontario. 

Making a business of Kangaroo Island

The Nuffield Scholarship is about gathering knowledge, and often that comes from the other scholars. Carly Bussenschutt, from Kangaroo Island in Southern Australia was a 2012 scholar along with The Hideaway Experience’s Caroline Millar.

Fast-forward a couple of years, and Millar’s hideways can be found as Bussenschutt’s “stowaways” on her farm half a world away from Scotland.

Islands offer unique experiences, and Kangaroo Island, slightly smaller than P.E.I., is no exception. It is a popular tourist destination known for its wild landscapes, fresh food, agriculture and native park lands. 

A native Islander, Bussenschutt along with her husband Adam and their children manage 2,500 merino sheep, as well as two luxury “stowaways.”

“When I landed at Millar’s Hideaway Experience in Scotland during my Nuffield travels, I just knew it was exactly the kind of thing that I would love to create on our own farm,” she says.

“Creating a luxury, romantic couples break is at the heart of our business model, and we have worked hard to create a truly unique space, in a really cool location on a one-of-a-kind island.” 

“The unexpected upside of our new venture is that as farmers we have learned the true pleasure of making people happy not just by producing food and fibre but providing a one of a kind experience you can’t really find anywhere else.”

The Bussenschutts currently run two stowaways —The Nest and Sleepy Hollow — and like Millar’s hideaways, they are rated five stars on Trip Advisor.

“I had an amazing time during my Nuffield travels and gained so much knowledge which has benefited my personal development and that of my family business beyond belief,” she says.

So what does a farm stay have to offer to the consumer to qualify for top-end accommodation fees? Millar conducted a survey with 200 of her own guests. Some of the results may surprise:

• The chance to escape the crowds, traffic, noise, to be alone and have space and fresh air.
• Starry skies, beautiful views, the natural environment, wildlife.
• Chance to wear coveralls, experience mud. 
• Somewhere to help you feel better mentally.
• The chance to meet a farmer for the first time, see crops growing, see animals up close and learn about where food comes from.
• An authentic experience — not a standardized corporate experience.
• Access to the best produce, e.g. locally farmed/produced eggs, steaks, jam.
• Local know-how about the best places to eat, walk, things to make a holiday special. 
• A farm tour, interested in geography, seasons, history, economics of farming.

Delivering a luxury farm product requires the greatest attention to detail. High-end consumers expect more, but farmers who can deliver that extra can benefit greatly.

Your field of dreams

Considerations for those looking to add an agri-tourism component to their farm

In Caroline Millar’s Nuffield report, entitled “Selling the Farm Experience,” she makes the following recommendations: 

1. There is a market demand for agri-tourism from the public, which is willing to pay for a chance to experience interaction with a real live farmer. 
2. The public is willing to pay for a chance to learn about how food is produced, the natural environment and life as a farmer. 
3. Unlike Italy, in the U.K. this tourism product has not been developed in a significant way. 
4. The successful key person in a tourism diversification was often not the farmer but a member of their family.
5. This person had particular attributes, most especially being a “people person.” 
6. If you don’t like people, stick to sheep. 
7. In terms of the impact on the farming family, successful farm diversifications: 
• used all forms of physical and human capital within the family to drive the maximum return on investment from their farming business.
• allowed multiple generations in a family business to live and work from the same fixed land asset.
• facilitated management succession in the farming business.
• generated increased economic impact in their rural economies. 
• collaborated with other businesses in a strategic way. 
8. Farm tourism and leisure present a significant opportunity for farmers to connect with consumers, to drive demand for homegrown produce for local and international markets, and to make vital income.

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With statistics like these, it’s easy to say that attracting and retaining farm staff is critical. You can have all the great business and farm ideas in the world, but if you can’t put boots in the field or the barn, that’s all they’ll ever be … ideas.

So how do you make your farm a farm that attracts the best employees and makes them want to stay?

Is that even a reasonable or an achievable goal?

Nuffield Scholars who farm around the world have studied exactly those questions, generating global perspectives and insights into what is actually working on real farms to keep their farms well-staffed, humming and productive.

Below, we bring you learnings and insights from two of these farmers, and how these farmers turned them into go-forward strategies.

Reece Curwen,
Australia

Reece Curwen, from South Stirling in Western Australia (four hours south from the capital Perth), came to the realization that his 25,000-acre grain and sheep operation was losing 30 per cent of its staff team every year. 

Curwen is the manager of Tooraweenah Pastoral Company, and while doing a business analysis, he saw that his farm does have a number of strengths. It’s diverse, self-sufficient and flexible, and it integrated livestock and cropping. But it also had a major weakness on human resource issues.

The farm had an unstable work force, suffered from a lack of non-family leaders and was overly reliant on foreign labour. 

For his 2015 Nuffield Scholarship, Curwen investigated how others attracted and retained their best employees. Over two years, he met 120 top farmers and agricultural professionals in 16 international locations including the United States, Canada, Brazil and Europe.

What did he learn?

Among companies with long-term employees, two major factors became clear. First, for employees it was critical that they be part of a successful and stable team that sees them as people, and not just a means to business profit.

The second key learning was that younger employees are looking for very different things in a career. Newer generations of hires are increasingly looking to ensure a life-work balance and to seek out new challenges.

That aligns with research showing generation Yers will average more than four careers in their lifetime, and they typically only stay in a role two years before seeking something new. They are also highly attracted to successful businesses and people.

Following his travels, Curwen implemented a human resources plan, including the hiring of a HR coach who visits the farm six times per year, in line with his finding that business issues are sometimes better addressed by an external source.

With harvest being the farm’s busiest time of the year, pre- and post-harvest plans are important and need to be adopted by the full team. Pre-harvest planning outlines the situation, and includes devising an execution plan. Post-harvest, that plan is reviewed and-methods on how to improve in the following year are talked over by the whole staff. Curwen has found that brainstorming as a team has been very powerful as it helps provide staff with a sense of involvement in critical business decisions.

Curwen also evaluates his own leadership skills. “I see it as critical that the family leads by example.”

He gained other key insights, too. “With the right tools in hand we try to inspire others to work with and not just for the family,” he says.

And, he adds, “Achieving the goal we set as a team gives me a buzz. While I don’t like the awkward, uncomfortable and difficult discussions, I’ve realized those are absolutely critical as a leader. They help to us to learn, and help me to support those changes.

“To me a leader is like a coach who hopefully awakens employees to new possibilities in their potential. I want to empower my team to make good decisions and build their leadership skills too.” 

Curwen adds “I’ve realized people are the most critical element to business success. Without good people, there’s too much pressure on the farm family. And it is much easier, and cheaper to retain good people than to try to find new employees, especially when most Australians don’t want to work on a farm, and it is unsustainable to rely on foreign and temporary workers.” 

The changes Curwen has made have been highly successful. He credits leadership programs like Nuffield with helping him develop new skills and to meet “amazing people doing cool things.” 

Hamish Murray,
New Zealand

Hamish Murray is another Nuffield international scholar who learned to motivate and retain his staff through time away from his New Zealand farm, although in his case it was not by choice, but rather circumstance.

His operation, Bluff Station, located in the Clarence River Valley on New Zealand’s South Island, is impressive. The diversified operation covers 13,800 ha (approximately 34,000 acres) and includes 9,000 merino ewes, 950 Angus and Hereford breeding cows and 750 bee hives.

The farm itself covers 130 different blocks over 35 km and ranges from 40 metres above sea level in the valley to 650 metres in the high hills. 

But as we know, numbers can be deceiving. Two years of severe drought, coupled with a devastating earthquake that forced him to rebuild six houses and the majority of infrastructure on the farm, had left Murray emotionally and mentally drained. 

Encouraged by his family to seek professional help, he began what has become a life-long journey of self-discovery. Like Curwen, Murray first critically evaluated his strengths and weaknesses. With the help of a professional coach from outside the farming world, he realized he had a major issue he was going to have to deal with, probably one he shared with loads of other farmers around the world.

Murray had an inability to delegate or to trust others to solve problems. (Sound familiar?)

It was an unsustainable leadership style, so for his 2019 Nuffield study he looked at how the employer-employee relationship needed to evolve in the workplace. “I was able to discover how industries from computer game development to health care and professional sports address the changing values and expectations of today’s workforce, allowing greater engagement and motivation from employees,” he says.

The list of companies he visited is impressive and ranging from the Crusaders, a Super League rugby team to Patagonia, the American-based outdoor-life retailer, and also included design firms, tech companies and startups in Silicon Valley such as Lyft, Square, IDEO, Granular, and Google.

Throughout all of his visits, it became clear that the constant key to these successful businesses was their focus on “soft skills” and shared values.

Soft skills are things like the way you communicate, make decisions, reflect and give/receive feedback as a team. Leaders need to be self-aware. Managers need to find out how their team members want to receive feedback and instruction.

Says Murray, “Success means making an effort to understand why people are the way they are, what are their motivations, passions, priorities and goals in life. We need to look at the whole person, not just the employee. Time invested in people is time well spent as the cost of hiring and training new staff is extremely expensive.” 

Also like Curwen, Murray notes that there are major differences between younger and older staff. The older ones are better prepared for a “top-down” style of leadership, while younger generations prefer to collaborate as a team. 

Murray also learned about the importance of what is termed “psychological safety.” It is the shared belief held by all members of a team that the environment is safe for them. It is the sense that the group will not embarrass, reject or punish them for speaking up.

This requires trust and mutual respect, and it allows members to be comfortable being themselves. It’s critical within any type of team, Murray believes, and he works hard to create a safe space for feedback. Returning from his Nuffield travels with a new management philosophy, Murray quickly began implementing what he had learned within his team, consisting of his wife Jess, his parents as well as two hired beekeepers, a general hand, a stock manager, shepherd and machine operator. 

“While we’re all busy and often spread over a two-hour distance, I realized face-to-face communication is not only necessary, but also critical. We can’t rely just on texting, or phone calls with our staff. It’s critical that we all, not just us owners, but all team members learn about people’s families and passions. We must build trust and relationships around those things. Because when the chips are down, the team attitude is what keeps people working towards the same goal, together.” 

Shared values by which all decisions are made are highly integrated into all of Murray’s activities. New employees are told of the values in their first job interview, and long-term staff members are continually reminded of them.

The four core values are: 

• Stand together and celebrate success 
• Back yourself and own your choices
• Have fun
• Be your best self

“During my personal journey, and my Nuffield Scholarship, I learned that people want to solve their own problems and it’s a matter more of helping them ask the right questions … I’m now about empowering everyone to move forward. It allows me to stand back and let the others lead.”

The farm has one or two team sessions each year to look at themselves and refresh their values, but every morning they also have what New Zealanders call a “Smoko.” “It’s our 10 a.m. break for a “cuppa” (of tea) and maybe a scone. Everyone who is in the area is welcome to join. I try to create a culture where we want to hang out with each other.” 

Murray goes on to note though that finding a balance between being a friend as well as a boss is difficult. One of his set boundaries is that dinner with his family is a “no call” time. He also sets certain days or times of the year aside where he can get away, whether it be for a bike ride, or a family holiday.

After the stress of recent years, he knows this is of utmost importance. Since the station is so isolated in the hill country and everyone lives on it, he also tries to employ couples to ensure that they have a balance and personal happiness too. Is it working for Murray? The answer is yes. “We have a very stable staff structure with minimal turnover now,” he says.

Keys to an empowered, loyal and motivated team

Delegate responsibility to others. Very few businesses have a completely happy staff team, but the most successful ones are those whose employees feel empowered and appreciated. 

Develop a shared vision, core values and team goals upon which management decisions are based. Communicate these regularly. 

Implement a RACI chart — also known as a responsibility assignment matrix. This is a simple roles-and-responsibilities diagram used in project management. A RACI chart defines whether the people involved in a project activity will be Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, or Informed for a corresponding task or decision.

Empower your staff and give them responsibility, as well as the opportunity for growth. 

Hold regular, in-person meetings to ensure employees understand the why and the how of decisions being made and to gather their input as much as possible. Consider bringing in external advisors on a regular basis. They can help to resolve issues objectively as well as bringing an outside perspective to problems or questions. 

Treat your people like you would want to be treated. Understand their visions, passions, families, goals. Create some fun, non-work events where families can be involved. Most importantly, be a part of the team. Your staff needs to be seen as an investment rather than a cost. 

The next generation of people think differently than the baby boomers. Understand what makes them happiest. Create a culture in which they thrive. 

Promote your business and industry. Your business needs to become the employer of choice so that people are approaching you for positions, and staff members are proud of where they work. Understand that the success of a business is a function of how effective you are at employing the right people and cultivating the right attitude. Success attracts people. 

Creating a happy team is about culture. Learning to be a better manager by developing HR and leadership skills for your farm team is well worth the investment. 

* With input from Nuffield farmers Reece Curwen (Australia) and Hamish Murray (New Zealand), and Heather Watson, FMC 

Canadian options

In Canada, Farm Management Canada’s executive director Heather Watson says many farmers come into their leadership program because they feel they have reached their limits.

“They want to achieve more, but feel they are maxed out by workload pressures and lack of time to get the work done,” Watson says. “Realizing the value of cultivating better relationships with their farm team and reaching for outside support allows them to achieve more and build a crew pulling in the same direction and infused with the passion and desire to achieve results.”

Surveys show, though, that most farms are missing out on key opportunities with human resource management and with leadership skills and practices.

It’s understandable. Family businesses typically evolve from a passion for the work they do, Watson points out. Only later do they find that in order to thrive, they need to take a business approach to ensuring the farm and farm team are positioned for success.

The good news is that Canadian farmers have several options for developing their leadership and management skills. Many commodity groups and agricultural/rural organizations and businesses have opportunities for their members and staff, such as the BUILD Leadership Development program, initiated by the Beef Farmers’ of Ontario and delivered by the Rural Ontario Institute (ROI). ROI also runs many other leadership programs including the highly successful Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program (AALP). Nationally there are programs including the CTEAM program available from AME to help producers build their business acumen and the National Farm Leadership Program from FMC which helps producers build their capacity to lead the team while ensuring their personal and professional goals are being met. For more specific skills, look to short-term courses available at many agricultural and community colleges, or think outside the industry and encourage team members to volunteer within their communities. Also check out the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council. It has an the AgriHR Toolkit for building HR capacity.

Away from the farm

Nuffield forces farmers to take time away from their farms. It turns out, though, that this often has an upside. Potential scholars see the difficulty in taking time away, especially in blocks as long as six weeks and sometimes longer, yet they always return impressed by the dedication, hard work and skill of those who managed their operation in their absence.

Many discover their staff have talents far beyond what their normal job entails. With the “boss” being away, workers are challenged to learn new skills, take ownership, problem-solve and become leaders.

Farm Management Canada’s Heather Watson sees the ability to take time away from the farm as a sign of good management practices and business acumen. “Many farmers are brought up believing they have to be all things to all people, and the success of the farm rests solely on their shoulders. They find it very difficult to delegate to their team members, but in reality, this limits the capacity of the farm to grow and also limits the capacity of the farm team to grow and develop as well.” 

The national Healthy Minds, Healthy Farms study conducted by FMC in 2020 found workload pressure is a huge stress for farmers (it follows only unpredictable markets and weather). As Nuffield scholars have found, though, farm stress is relieved when farmers can count on the support of their farm team and family to share the load, especially when making important management decisions. This in turn depends on creating a culture of teamwork and personal and professional development.

The post These farmers call it teamwork appeared first on Country Guide.