The mistake left enough residual chemical to damage a quarter section of canola, a loss he estimates at roughly $42,000.

Instead of hiding the error or quietly absorbing the cost, Dobson gathered his farm team and shared what had happened. He walked them through how his fatigue and what he calls “moments of thoughtlessness” led to an expensive mistake.

In doing so, Dobson wasn’t just addressing a one-off error, he was modelling behaviour reflecting a culture shift underway on Canadian farms: moving away from a culture of blame and toward one that treats mistakes as opportunities to learn.

And experts say that shift matters.

The term “blame culture” has gained prominence in organizational psychology and safety science worlds, referring to a workplace environment where individuals are faulted for mistakes rather than being encouraged to use them as opportunities to learn.

And while this type of culture has been widely studied in industries like aviation, construction and health care, experts say that agriculture has been slower to move away from the instinct to fault individuals when things go wrong.

But that is beginning to change, particularly as a younger generation of farmers takes on leadership roles and pushes for healthier, more sustainable ways of running both businesses and teams.

That change will be critical to the future success of the industry.

Why does blame culture exist in agriculture?

Experts say blame culture has deep roots in agriculture, where tradition, pressure and older ideas about work have long shaped how farms operate.

Jody Wacowich, executive director of AgSafe Alberta, says agriculture has historically resembled the old-school coaching model, where yelling and punishment were treated as normal responses to mistakes.

“You used to yell at the guy for screwing up and he was fired,” she says. “Well, we don’t have that luxury anymore.”

Part of the issue, she says, is that farming has not faced the same regulatory and safety pressures as sectors like oil, gas or construction, where stronger safety systems have pushed employers to examine root causes rather than simply blame workers.

Agriculture, by contrast, still often falls back on the mindset of “this is how we’ve always done it.”

Dobson, who also works as a certified executive coach for farms and agri-businesses, says many farms are also still shaped by older beliefs about work, worth and hardship — an approach he sums up as “If you’re not suffering, then you don’t have enough to do.”

This type of mentality can leave little room for training, reflection or open discussion about mistakes, says Dobson. He adds it is also increasingly at odds with the demands of modern farming, which relies more than ever on communication, management and strong working relationships.

“Modern, twenty-first-century farming is highly relational. It’s highly dependent on relating in a way that was never required before.”

That tension often plays out across generations, he says. Although younger farmers are often grateful for what their parents built, they also recognize that the habits and attitudes that worked in the past may not be enough for larger, more complex and more labour-dependent operations.

In many cases, these younger generations want a different quality of life and relationship with both family and employees, one that is less rooted in stoicism, silence and blame, he says.

Why is blame culture so dangerous on farms?

The risks of blame culture on farms are both human and financial.

Dobson says when workers fear being blamed, they are far less likely to admit mistakes early. And on a farm — where errors can affect safety, crop quality, equipment and inventory — that can be especially dangerous.

The financial costs can also be significant, as Dobson’s own sprayer mistake exemplifies.

But there can also be greater costs, says Wacowich, who believes that the agriculture sector has long normalized incidents and fatalities that other industries would treat as preventable.

“Some of them just aren’t preventable. They all are,” she says.

Blame culture can also hurt farms competitively, says Dobson. Operations known for burnout, poor communication and finger-pointing will struggle to recruit and retain good employees, while those that create supportive, learning-oriented workplaces are more likely to keep people and help them grow.

“The success of the farm is now based on ‘How I can train people up and create a place where people want to come to work and accept responsibility.’”

“It’s not always easy to change cultures, but you’ve got to keep working away at it.”

Jody Wacowich, executive director of AgSafe Alberta

Challenging old assumptions is key

Both Wacowich and Dobson say a generational shift is helping push farm culture in a new direction.

Many are trying to build farm businesses that are not only profitable, but sustainable for the people inside them, including spouses, children and employees.

That means challenging old assumptions that constant exhaustion, suffering and silence are simply part of farm life. Instead, younger operators are more likely to see labour as an investment, not just a cost. This is important because if you see people only as a cost to be minimized, you won’t spend time training them, supporting them or designing better systems, says Dobson.

However, Dobson says this does not mean rejecting the values of previous generations. Instead, we need to adapt them to the realities of a bigger, more complex and more people-dependent industry.

In that sense, the shift away from blame culture is part of a broader change in how farms think about leadership itself.

How farms can move from blame to learning

Wacowich says one of the most important first steps in addressing blame culture on the farm is abandoning the idea that safety, and by extension good decision-making, is “just common sense.”

“One of the things that I hear quite often is, ‘It’s just all common sense. They should just know better,’” she says, adding that what one person sees as obvious may not be obvious to someone from a different farm, background or generation.

“It’s only common sense if you and I grew up on the same farm,” she says. “In an ideal world, I could get a thumb drive, download everything I know about my farm and hand it to you, but I can’t. What we need to work towards is a common knowledge. I have to take the time to teach you.”

She also says culture is shaped in the moment something goes wrong. A learning-oriented farm is one where leaders resist the urge to react with anger and, instead, pause, de-escalate and ask what can be learned. “The moment an accident happens, you’re ready to start yelling,” she says. “We need to take that breath and go, ‘Wait a minute. This is a learning opportunity.’”

Dobson agrees that changing culture starts with leadership and self-awareness. He encourages farmers to examine how much of their own management style is driven by fear of failure or discomfort with not having the answer. From there, he says, it helps to be explicit with employees telling them mistakes will happen, and speaking up early matters more than pretending everything is fine.

On his farm Dobson says he tells staff that while they should strive to not make critical mistakes, he does expect them to make everyday mistakes — and then talk about them.

“If you raise your hand and ask for help, you will be helped,” he says. “No questions asked. You will be given all the support necessary. However, if you make a mistake and you try and cover it up, then that’s a completely different conversation we’re going to have.”

He also urges farm leaders to think of mistakes as a kind of tuition: costly, but valuable if the lesson is captured and shared. After an incident, he recommends debriefing openly with staff: what happened, what should have happened and what will change next time. And, if farm leaders want others to admit mistakes, he says they need to lead by example.

“You want to change that culture, you go first.”

Blame culture on farms won’t happen overnight, but it can start today

Changing culture on a farm doesn’t happen overnight. It’s built through small, consistent actions: how problems are handled, how expectations are communicated and how people are treated under pressure.

As Wacowich puts it, “It’s not always easy to change cultures, but you’ve got to keep working away at it.”

On farms where that work is happening, the payoff is clear: stronger teams, safer operations and businesses that are better equipped to handle both the expected and the unexpected.

And with younger generations demanding better quality of life and more sustainable ways of working, Dobson suggests that farms that don’t deliberately build strong cultures will struggle to keep people and keep up, while those that do will be far better positioned for the future.

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