The benchmark of success
Western Canadian survey first of its kind in the world to isolate the best practices of leading farmers.
The onions grown on Rob and Kathy Henry’s farm go directly from the field to retail stores in the United Kingdom. What’s even more interesting is that their farm is not even close to the markets they serve. It’s in Tasmania, just off the coast of Australia, and yet the exporter comes right to the farm and picks the onions.
Onions are just one of 22 different sources of revenue the Henrys have developed since they began farming 25 years ago. They grow potatoes, peas, poppies for alkaloids, vegetable and grass seeds, wheat and barley, and peppermint, fennel, parsley and dill for essential oils. As well, they raise sheep, beef and dairy heifers and it’s all done on 1,100 acres.
LEARN FROM THE BEST
So what’s this got to do with farming in Canada? Well, the Henrys are the exactly the type of successful farmers Al Scholz wants to know more about. He’s been following and writing about successful farmers in western Canada for the past few years and he believes that there is much we can learn from producers in other countries as well.
Scholz is the Project Leader of the Best Practice Group, a western-Canadian consortium of agriculture management and research consultants focusing on the characteristics of leading farmers. Other members of the Group are Terry Betker, Meyers Norris Penny, Darrell Toma, Toma and Boma Management Consultants and Corrin Harper, Insightrix Market Research. Thanks to substantial funding from the federal government’s Canadian Adaptation and Rural Development National Program, the organization was able to survey 150 of the top farmers across western Canada. The results were presented at a series of conferences that focused on the Best Practice of Leading Farmers held in Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary this past February. The farm couple from Tasmania was one of the featured speakers at this year’s conference series.
“We want to understand what leading farmers across Canada are doing differently from other producers to maintain profitability so we can create a body of knowledge that can be used by other farmers, policy makers and educators,” says Scholz.
“But we also want to be able to give this information back to those same leading farmers so they can network and become even better at what they are doing. That is critical if the agricultural industry in Canada is going to remain innovative and globally competitive. As the saying goes, ‘A rising tide lifts all ships.’ ”
FORMULATE & INTEGRATE
Of the 150 farmers surveyed, the top 40 were ranked as being the very best. Scholz noted that these producers were diligent about making sure every detail was considered in running their farms. All made written business, succession and risk management plans part of their operations. Many of the top farmers have formulated three-year, five-year and even 20-year plans. In addition, they tend to have formulated job descriptions, operational manuals and integrate all family members into some aspect of the business.
“The most successful of the top 25% said they were actively involved in some type of vertically integrated value-added program that had a direct impact on their profitability,” says Scholz. As for marketing, almost 80% are involved in orderly marketing, over 70% sell directly to processing plants for distribution, and just under half of the farmers sell products to other provinces.
These farmers know their exact costs of production, calculate profitability by business unit and make sure that they have built a management team that complements their abilities, including lawyers, lenders, accountants and marketing consultants.
The Best Practice Group plans to follow these same 40 farmers for the next 10 years, interviewing them once a year to better understand how they plan, make adjustments and continue to be profitable regardless of weather and market irregularities.
However, western Canada is only the beginning. Scholz and his partners plan to roll out the Best Practice survey program across Canada later this spring and then take it international next year starting in Australia.
“While Australia has done some of the work on benchmarking producer performance, no one else in the world is doing the kind of quantitative assessment on best practices that we are. Going to Australia is the next logical step because we in Canada have so much in common with them,” says Scholz.
WHERE DO YOU STAND?
If you want to find out where you rank compared to Western Canada’s leading farmers, a self assessment tool is available at www.bestpracticeofleadingfarmers.com. Mini case studies of leading farmers are available at the web site so you can read about some real-life examples of best practice.
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