When Ryley Richards learned out about Farmer Coach, he signed up. So far, he says, it looks like a good choice.
The 41-year-old manages his family farm an hour south of Regina along with father Rod and three full-time crew members, plus a few additional hands at busy times. Over the years, the farm has grown to a point where the business side became enough of a going concern to require full-time attention.
“A human resources strategy was my main focus,” Richards says, adding that ag in general can benefit from copying the corporate world’s HR blueprint. “How are these guys working with their teams? What are other farms doing to keep retention? I wanted to have a strategy to build this business.”
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Since going through Farmer Coach, Richards has created a brand, including a website and logo, and he has worked hard to define vision for the farm and how it intends to get there.
“Our team is benefiting from the HR direction that we’re getting from strategies of Farmer Coach and from other farms that are involved in the course,” he says.
Richards says he was impressed with what Farmer Coach offered, namely a fresh and intensive look at working capital, debt, equipment, labour and how to structure it all in a way that made sense at his farm. Benchmarking activities helped him understand his farm relative to others and how he can be more cost-effective.
“It was a safe place to have conversations with other farms involved in the industry that are progressive, are looking to grow and are looking to be better at what we do,” Richards says.
He thought the program was so beneficial he enrolled one of his employees, as well, and he says he now sees greater unity throughout the team.
“It’s actually happening,” Richards says.
Richards now works primarily on the business and his employees now have a much stronger understanding of the entire scope of the farm. It seems to be a huge benefit as he looks at the near- to medium-term of the farm, and the Canadian ag industry in general.
“(The program) has given us the opportunity to grow the farm and to keep it in a financially sound manner,” he says. “Having a strategy on how to correctly use equipment, to purchase at the right time and to have our debt structure correct is important moving forward.”
