Learning for the future in agri-business
Dr. David Kohl had a single goal when it came to his recent RBC-sponsored speaking series ‘Positioning for Success in the Economic Reset’ farm, ranch and agriculture presentation in Moose Jaw.
“If we just touch on one thing in people’s lives and help them, if they can take one or two things away from this and put them to use, my trip to Moose Jaw and through Saskatchewan will be successful,” Kohl said prior to his two-hour seminar at Mae Wilson Theatre on Mar. 26.
More than 200 people took the opportunity to hear from the Virginia Tech Professor Emeritus of Agricultural and Applied Economics, and for good reason – Kohl brings an astonishing level of expertise and experience to the field and has spent his academic lifetime keeping up the trends and designs that keep modern farms working at the highest level possible.
His wide-ranging presentation touched on a host of subjects, from international trade, NAFTA and the Pan Pacific trade agreement to engineering and technology, purchasing habits and even how water – something taken for granted in this part of the world – is going to affect farm and ranching all over the world in the not too distant future.
“If you really look at it, water really drives the economics not only of certain areas but whole countries and that’s something that should be of interest to farmers and ranchers,” Kohl said. “You go into various areas of the states and you have farms and populations that are migrating because of a shortage of water. And it’s not just the amount of water, it’s the quality of water and how it can be used in efficient ways... Oftentimes, I’d take a visionary route of 10, 15 years with something like this but the problem is today, in such a short-run nanosecond world, sometimes we choke ourselves off in the short run and can’t get by in the long run.”
That also applies when it comes to trade, especially in North America. Current major pacts and deals could have an extreme effect on farming, to the point that not paying attention or caring could be fatal.
“I think it’s front and center, whether it’s Canada or the United States,” Kohl said. “Some of the recent things on NAFTA and some of the things on the Pan Pacific trade agreement can make a big difference when it comes to farm profits and farm values. That’s one of our greatest risks.”
For North America, that especially applies to NAFTA and the current and ongoing negotiations to create a modern version of the decades-old three-nation trade pact.
“Any agreement that’s 20-25 years old, sure it should be looked at,” Kohl said. “And when you take Canada, Mexico and the United States, we’re 30 per cent of the world’s economy. So hopefully we’ll be able to work through some of the things that are going on south of the border and create something that works.”
A major part of Kohl’s seminar was a 12-point presentation that touched on a series of factors he’s seen in farm and ranch businesses, both successful and unsuccessful. As it turns out, what applies to farms in Australia or Africa or the United States also applies to farms in Canada, including some aspects that might not even be considered in this part of the world.
“We operate a farm business ourselves, so I’m passing on some of my own experiences of what works and doesn’t work... but overall interacting with audiences all over the world, you see so many common threads,” Kohl said. “The whole thing is called the compounding effect. You see how things are being done in other parts of the world, things that work and don’t work, and you compound your knowledge with everyone else.”
Kohl’s visit was part of a string of such talks in Saskatchewan, continuing his long-standing relationship with RBC.
“RBC is making an investment in the future with this and I applaud them for creating this kind of speaking series,” he said. “I’ve been involved with RBC for 33 years, and I think it really shows the investment RBC and their team members are putting back into farming and ranching as well as the communities as a whole.”