Can’t run a farm on ‘maybes’
OPINION: Farmers thrive on clarity, so ‘maybe answers’ can create anxiety and confusion, Sam Owen writes.
In late 2021, I became a facilitator for the Rural Support Trust, which entails me visiting or talking to farmers who are under stress or strain and have contacted us to seek some help.
Our job is to help work out the person’s needs, listen and help formulate a plan to get them heading in the right direction.
It’s a free service and is open to anyone within the rural sector, it also has links to direct people who are not associated with the rural landscape to seek help as well.
During a call recently a farmer said something that has resonated with me every day since and has changed my outlook on our farming business.
The person said: “I can’t run my farm on a maybe.”
Farmers thrive on clarity and definitive answers, whether it be good or bad a definitive outcome, it allows for a solid base to plan the next move.
The maybe answers create anxiety and confusion and can lead to decisions being delayed or two outcomes being planned for instead of one, which creates more work.
So many of our stresses on and offfarm come from the unknown.
The scariest place you’ll ever be is in your own head, worrying and playing out scenarios so out of left field that you can’t relay them to anyone at the risk of being locked up.
I can guarantee these are all based on maybes or the unknown.
There will always be the maybes in life and farming but try to eliminate them as much as possible, as it creates a clearer plan for you and the people around you.
A definitive answer doesn’t have to be instant but the longer it takes the more of the unknowns come into
What we can do is
plan and make contingencies to allow us to make the best judgment
call at the time.
play and lack of clarity can cause people to take their eye off the ball.
This is where accidents and slipups occur because the mind can be elsewhere, pondering the maybes.
The rural landscape is diverse, with so many people doing so many things, all with the end goal of producing a great product and making it home safely at the end of the day.
Confusion, and lack of clarity due to “maybes” are heightening stress levels on farms and the knock-on effect is a downturn in productivity.
So many calls are received by the Rural Support Trust from people feeling overwhelmed or unsure.
Helping find answers and seeking clarity on situations is one thing we help with and it’s done by eliminating the what-ifs and the maybes from the situations.
There are obviously a lot of unknowns out there that we can’t get a definitive answer for.
Will it be a dry or wet summer? What’s the price of fertiliser going to do? Is the $10 payout here to stay?
What we can do is plan and make contingencies to allow us to make the best judgment call at the time.
It’s still a maybe but by using the trusted advice of people within your business, locking in feed or milk price offers the definitive answer we need to then base a lot of our other decisions off that are variable or maybes.
Nothing in agriculture is a singular answer, every decision has a knockon effect whether it be within the business or family.
Seeking clarity around as much as we can even on a day-to-day basis we can create a better and more productive work environment by eliminating or reducing the maybe answers.