Alec MacGregor has handed out all kinds of advice over the years. Now, he’s doing it in a more formalized way as a mentor in the National Sustainable Grazing Mentorship Program, delivered through the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.
MacGregor coaches other farmers who want to get more from their grazing land, and he does it by offering individual advice on fencing, watering systems, grass species, feeding strategies or anything else. It could be as simple as suggesting a soil sample to test nutrient levels.
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“It’s more of a mind shift,” says the Jasper, Ont. farmer. “Usually, it’s just giving them that nudge to help them along.”
Mentoring programs are a growing trend in many industries, including agriculture, as producers look for new ways to stay competitive. MacGregor says they’re a very cost-effective way to improve the bottom line.
“You don’t need a lot of technology. You don’t need expensive machinery and expensive inputs,” MacGregor says. “You can do a lot of it with thinking and management.”
The goal of a mentoring program is to learn from someone with more experience or new ideas. It’s also collaborative.
Working together to solve immediate problems, anticipate future dilemmas and discuss new strategies can shave years off the learning curve for young or new farmers.
“In the past, you handed down information from one generation to the next,” explains Gary Martens, a plant science professor at the University of Manitoba, which offers an agriculture co-op
program.
That was valuable, but there’s a limitation too. Basically, says Martens, you only get 30 tries (the average working life of a farmer) to try something because the crop life is only one year. “That’s why a mentorship is really good,” he says. “You’re learning from an accumulation of knowledge from a bunch of other people.”
So where do you start?
First, you’ll need to determine if a mentorship program is the right fit for you. Jen Denys, owner of Right Path Consulting in Parkhill, Ont. and the co-ordinator of a mentorship program at Fanshawe College in London, Ont., recommends doing a little soul searching before you sign on.
Mentoring works best for producers who have specific goals in mind and want new ideas, says Denys.
“What motivated you to search for a mentor?” Denys asks. “What is your overall goal? How comfortable are you asking for what you need and what you want from someone? Are you willing to take on some challenges?”
The next step is finding a program. Denys advises against an informal arrangement between family members or close neighbours.
Look beyond the family
“Not every family dynamic has a person who’s that supportive,” says Denys, whose husband is also a pork producer. “One of the things about family roles is that if you’re working with your dad — for better or worse — they’re still going to see you as that five-year-old or 15-year-old at times.”
What you likely need instead is someone from outside who can give you that support when it’s needed, or a kick in the butt.
Finding a mentoring program requires a bit of research but, fortunately, there are many options across the country. Several agricultural associations offer formal programs, such as the grazing mentoring program where mentees are matched with the mentor closest to them. The mentors, such as MacGregor, are volunteers who visit the mentee’s farm and help them create an action plan.
The Canadian Farm Business Management Council (CFBMC), the Canadian 4-H Council, the Centre for Rural Leadership and several provincial agriculture departments also offer a range of mentorship opportunities. Some of them, such as the CFBMC’s “Step Up” program, cater to young farmers by offering on-farm paid work placements across the country.
The critical factor, says Martens, is to find a program and a mentor who will challenge you and make you think in a new way.
Martens advises young people who want to be mentored to challenge existing ideas just by asking the question, why? “Why are you doing it this way?” he says. “That makes the person doing the mentoring think and come up with some rationale.”
