Grainswest - Spring 2023

Spring 2023 grainswest.com 27 “That’s the concept we wanted to bring to the primary agriculture industry—was to make them get off the farm. Make them sit down in a class with their peers and work on their business rather than being day-to-day at all times.” —Evan Shout BUSINESS COACHES Farmer Coach is the coaching wing of Hebert Group, a consortium of ag companies created by Saskatchewan grain farmer Kristjan Hebert of Moosomin, SK. He and Evan Shout are certified accountants, farmers and friends of 20-plus years. The two participate in Strategic Coach, a Toronto, ON, entrepreneurial business program for a person in any industry to elevate their business. Through their participation in that program, they realized they could make a similar, ag-specific offering, which led to the creation of Farmer Coach. In 2022, they launched the Farmer Coach, which incorporates the best elements of similar, previously existing professional development programs with their own experiences as western Canadian farmers. Pulling in 20 farmers at a time, Hebert and Shout put on 1.5-day professional development sessions in Saskatoon, SK, three times per year. They help these farmer cohorts further develop their farm business in whatever way the participant desires. The program’s focus is strategy, long-term planning, goal setting and accountability. Hebert and Shout assist farmers in scrutinizing their business structure. Participants produce multi-year plans and rank their performance in a long list of business areas. This gives them much to think about and work through. “That’s the concept we wanted to bring to the primary agriculture industry—was to make them get off the farm,” said Shout. “Make them sit down in a class with their peers and work on their business rather than being day-to-day at all times.” Farmer Coach participants come from various agricultural sectors, and even countries, but their commonalities transcend borders. “It’s more the progressive mindset,” he said. “It’s the guys who treat their business like a business. They truly believe they’re entrepreneurs, they’re not just farmers. They run a multimillion-dollar business, and they believe in having a stronger strategy, whether it’s in HR or in financial aspects.” The typical age range of farmer participants is 35 to 45. They operate small to mega-sized established farms but demand more out of their current situation. This might include better interpersonal skills, marketing approaches or business acumen. Participants in the program also share a formidable challenge. They face incrementally increased risk every single year. “If we looked at what it cost to put in a crop 10 years ago, it was $170 an acre, and now it’s approaching $500,” said Shout. “We have three times the risk we had when mom and dad were working the farm. There’s so much risk that the stress levels and the amount of decision-making and the size of the decisions people are making, have pushed them towards getting experts, somebody that knows more about that topic than they do.” Farms that have expanded their acreage are often required to provide annual projections, which they have not previously had to do. This has additionally forced farmers to turn to third-party advisors by necessity. “You’ve got to do what you’re good at and farmers are historically good at growing grain,” said Shout. “That’s where the professional side of the business started to come in more.” THE PLAYER Ryan Galbraith is a 32-year-old Minnedosa, MB farmer with 12 crop years under his belt. He met Hebert in 2016 at Texas A&M in The Executive Program for Agricultural Producers (TEPAP), a well-regarded coaching program for North American farmers. Since then, he kept in touch with Hebert