The Farmers Club Newsletter

Tuesday’s thinking and trends for the 19th of September 2023

By Dwain Duxson

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We'll always bat for Farmers.

I have been involved in Ag all my life, I grew up on a mixed Farm at Marnoo in Victoria. I spent 15 years post-school working on that Farm and loved it. My brother and Father still run the Farm. I only left because I saw an opportunity to start an online business for Farmers. That business is called Farm Tender. So, through this newsletter, we will always bat for the Farmer. That's why it's called "The Farmers Club". But sometimes, we may call something out, something we believe that, as an industry, we are not that good at. But we are not doing it to criticise. We are doing it so people might stop and think, yes, we can do that better. The story below is one of those.

We seem to get HR wrong in Ag.

Human Resources (HR) is something many of us have never taken seriously in Ag. In fact, I reckon most of us get it completely wrong. Farms usually have a couple of people (family members) working on or in the business. But we forget that we are a Human Resource also. And we need to treat ourselves and others around us as though we are an employee. I read about one Farmer who was saying that they didn't spend money on fixing something that was dangerous because they didn't have any employees and it was only Family members working the Farm. That sums it up. We need to get better at HR in Ag, especially if we want to attract people to the industry and into our businesses.

Handing on the Farm books

Getting the Farm books done on time and done right is a very important part of running a Farm business. I'm sure the Farm books aren't underestimated. I just think they are not as high on the priority list as they should be. Basically, most Farmers will do anything to get out of the office. But I think it's important to put time aside each month to get a consistent workflow and have things done on time. Otherwise, they compound. And I am a big believer in handing over the books to the younger people within the Farm business as soon as humanly possible. But there's a proviso. They have to commit to it. Have you got the right person doing the books?

Is there a point where persistence doesn't pay?

We have a couple of Swallows nesting, or should I say trying to build a nest on a split system pipe on our front verandah. I keep knocking the nest down and thinking surely they will nest elsewhere, only to find another nest the next day. This kept going on, and they kept coming back until I decided to make it so a nest couldn't be built by putting a bit of Timber in the nesting spot (see image below). It got me thinking. At what point do you give up on something where you keep getting belted down? Persistence pays, they say, and most of the time, it does. But sometimes, you just have to stop. Take note, my feathered friends.....

End of message.

Dwain Duxson

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