I was recently flipping through “Fast Company,” one of my favourite business magazines. An article caught my eye describing “Millennials.” You know, those people in the workforce who were born after 1978. There were several insights about what made millennials tick. Naturally, I extrapolated what these young farmers might want to see happen on the […]
Let Go of the Proverbial Carrot: 8 Ways to Move Towards Your Succession Plan
Many next-generation farmers that I coach are sick of complaining. They want this year to be the year they FINALLY gain some equity. Farmers love carrots, don’t you know? They dangle the proverbial carrot for years in front of the next generation, to keep the young folks guessing about when they’ll become part-owners and […]
The Farm Workaholic: 7 Reality Checks and A Subscription to Making Change
Farming is one of those businesses where you live at your workplace. There’s no line between work and home. It seems work is always just out the back door (because it is!) This can cause a farmer to become a workaholic. The reality is, working too much is killing farmers and their families. Imagine your […]
Rejuvenating Roles of Women in Agriculture
I wish you could have been there to see it. I was speaking to a farm couple and when I asked, “when is it your wife’s turn to get what she wants?”, I saw the farmer’s wife poke him in the arm. Older farm men usually hate it when I ask that question—they’re very content […]
The Farmland Dilemma: Help! The Siblings Who Don’t Farm are Getting Farmland!
I could feel the frustration and pain as I read her lengthy email describing an all too common scenario for farm families on the topic of inheriting farmland. It looks like this: Aging parents have been pressured to be “fair” to the siblings who don’t farm. And the non-farming siblings also seem to have noticed […]
Keeping Farm Transitions Fair
Farm transitions can be tough. And they’re only tougher when there’s a lack of fairness during the process. The daughter of BDO’s Jim Snyder (now retired) thinks farm families will be more successful if they view fairness as “helping everyone be successful” rather than merely “being equal”. I’ve been challenged to create a session on […]
10 Things Millennial Farmers Want
Do you know what millennial farmers really want? I recently had the privilege of meeting a group of the Alberta Young Farmers.They were young, energetic and positive about their future in agriculture. Here are ten things I learned from them about what millennial farmers want in life. To be heard. Millennials have ideas and opinions. […]
How to Build a Strong Relationship: Marriage Fitness for Farm Couples
This article was originally posted on October 17, 2017, and has been updated. Does it ever feel like your spouse pays more attention to crop production than they do to you? These cracks really start to show when farm couples don’t build strong partnerships. I’d like to challenge you to get your marriage/partnership into better […]
Evolving Farm Family Roles
This article is an excerpt from Elaine’s book Farming’s In-Law Factor. At different stages of our lives, we need different things. These needs vary for each of us, but there tends to be a pattern. This is especially true for members of a farm family. With each stage of our lives, tasks and needs that […]
My 9 Top Tips for Loving a Farmer
This article was initially published on April 26, 2016, and has been updated. I want farm couples to be happier in their relationships; as love partners and as farm partners. Sometimes I ask the hard questions that irk people. But they know they need to deal with making their marriage stronger. “Elaine is a marriage […]
