When the dust of harvest rolls and clogs up the efficiency of your combine filters, you don’t keep going — you stop and clean or replace the filter. If you spread your fingers open across your face, you are creating body language for the conflict filter clogging up the communication for your farm team. It’s […] Read more
How to clean up your conflict filter
Seeds of Encouragement: Shift out of an avoidance mindset and face conflicts for what they are
How to ‘discuss the undiscussabull’ ™
Seeds of Encouragement: If you feel you should have permission to ask for what you need, here it is
Twenty years ago, at coaching school, I embraced a Beanie Baby bull as the metaphor for the “bull in the middle of the farm kitchen” which no one wants to talk about. My “tools for talking about tough issues” can help you navigate the hot days of August on the combine, grain cart, pasture or […] Read more
Watch your words
Seeds of Encouragement: Self-defeating language can kill transition conversations and affect your mental health
Recently in one of our amazing membership coaching calls a farmer sighed loudly about his transition frustration and said, “It is what it is.” This sparked a lively conversation about how we handle our mental well-being, which is often bathed in waves of frustration as we try to navigate the needs and wants of founders […] Read more
Great questions to uncover inheritance expectations
Seeds of Encouragement: Keeping a farm intact can complicate the process, but not insurmountably so
One of the key fears of aging farm founders is the conflict they anticipate when the farming heir has access to millions of dollars of land, and the siblings who are off to other careers do not have the same net worth opportunity in their future. Or do they? Firstly, where it is written that […] Read more
Using common ground for written agreements
Seeds of Encouragement: Put intentions and interests into well written words before change inevitably comes
I hope you are reading this on your phone while waiting in the field, which would mean #plant2024 conditions are perfect to go. The type of “common ground” I refer to in the headline is not your soil; it’s the things everyone on your farm team is committed to work toward. As mediators in conflict […] Read more
Who is responsible for what on your farm?
Seeds of Encouragement: Collaboration, consultation, clarification help build better work cultures
If you’re gearing up for spring planting or tending to livestock, you know there are many daily tasks to complete, and your mind may be saying “The work on this farm is never done.” Many young farmers are keen to work hard to prove they are ready to become farm managers — but what tools […] Read more
How to have the conversation about prenups
Whatever the status of your relationship, the farm you share needs clarity
“So, you want to protect your farm in case of a divorce, understandably so! Can you do that with a prenup? Yes! If it’s valid and enforceable, and you include the right provisions, your farm can stay in your possession, even in the worst-case scenario of a divorce. Prenups can also supplement your estate planning […] Read more
Tips to navigate transition storms
The cash flow needed to acquire land can fall outside of long-term profitability
Last month, in the U.S., we heard Steven Bohr of Next Generation Ag Advocates encourage young farmers with tools for transition. The average price per acre in Iowa, as of last Nov. 1, is estimated at US$11,835, and 34 per cent of the land has owners over 75 years of age. Sixty per cent of […] Read more
Write the first draft now for your next chapter
You no longer have the luxury of avoiding hard conversations
Imagine how wonderful life would be on your farm if you did not have to guess what other folks on your farm team really want for their lives, and for the farm business? I had the great joy of speaking to 540 young Iowa farmers last month. Many of them are stuck in getting equity […] Read more
Being an emotionally strong farm parent
Strong-willed and independent people might consider a self-coaching approach
Tis the season of farm meetings, where the speakers will talk about business and “keeping the emotion” out of business using data to make concrete decisions. I don’t debate this approach for grain marketing, but I highly doubt stuffing emotions on the farm creates clarity of expectations or happy outcomes. Recently I met Carolyn Stern, […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
