We sat crowded a round the kitchen table less than a stone’s throw from the main farmhouse, two young frustrated farm couples and me, the farm coach. My eyes met the eyes of a daughter in-law (DIL) whose ready tears were about to roll as I explained that sometimes in the culture of agriculture there […] Read more
Stopping the shame game
No one can function well when they always feel like a failure
Alcohol abuse on the farm
What needs to change in the addiction department on your farm in 2015?
How does one start to convey the sadness sown by a life of addiction? For transparency, let’s get a few things on the table before going too far. I grew up in a farm family where my parents worked very hard, long hours, and some would say were “workaholics.” My sister died at age 23 […] Read more
What do you value for the new year?
Are you looking forward to 2015 or are you highly frustrated?
Lance Woodbury is author of The Enduring Legacy: Essential Family Business Values, a wonderful little book of business value validation. My consulting friend Dick Wittman gives a copy to each farm family he works with. I’ve outlined the list of values that Woodbury writes about, and added my own thoughts. You can get his book […] Read more
Being a compassionate farm mentor
Things on our farm are changing again — an employee moving on. In Stephen Poulter’s book The Father Factor, he talks about the fathering style of a “compassionate mentor.” This is a great style for farm founders to embrace over the winter months as they train the next generation for success. Smart farm dads and […] Read more
Dealing with retiring farmers
Be sensitive with aging landowners, many will have a hard time letting go
I am extremely grateful for the three neighbours who showed up with three extra combines to harvest on the last sunny Saturday of September. It really made a huge difference in reducing the stress on our farm. When I relayed this story to an easterner he said, “Wow, they still do that out there? Neighbours […] Read more
Who gets to make the ultimate decision on this farm?
Here’s some helpful overview questions to aid the decision-making process
One of speaker Norm Rubin’s universal laws of life goes like this: “Make everyone a stakeholder. Involve everyone on your team in your farm; ask for their input and opinions. Recognize that all those involved in your business will build your business. When you make everyone in your network a stakeholder, whether they have a financial […] Read more
Lessons from the quiet chair
The ritual of spending time here every morning continues to help me
I hear the geese flying overhead on their way back to the wildlife sanctuary, just four miles west of our yard. I see birds perched on a stray self-planted sunflower near the bird feeder. I ponder the words on my lap in my journal as I sit in silence in my morning ritual of the […] Read more
Love is learning how to say ‘sorry’ at harvest
Stress is high at harvest time so knowing how to apologize is important
Sometimes I wish I didn’t have real-life examples of how I make mistakes, but my mishaps make good fodder for this column. Last harvest I was the combine driver who backed into the fuel truck while I was unloading my auger for cleanout to move to the next field. I have a bad habit of […] Read more
‘Someday’ is not on my calendar: avoiding procrastination
Why do we continually put things off for another day?
I’m sure you may have heard a farmer say, “Someday this farm will be his,” or, “Someday we will get to the lawyer’s office, but we have work to do!” My sister Barbara Edie wrote the headline, “Someday is not a day on my calendar” when she relayed the memories of an active 1988 spent […] Read more
What good fathers do to embrace sons-in-law
One of the overlooked team players on the family farm is the son-in-law who is married to the successor, the daughter of the founders. Let’s consider some of the dynamics that you need to be aware of to help understand what is going on for the son-in-law (SIL). Why the SIL behaves the way he […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
