Creative Solutions
How to find solutions on the farm even in tough times.
In talking to farmers across the Midwest, Jolene Brown, a professional speaker and family business consultant, offers some unexpected advice to those overwhelmed by the stress of cultivating the land.
Call your family doctor, she’ll say. “When you make the appointment, tell them you have a sore throat.”
A sore throat?
The farmer will look at her awkwardly.
Yes, she will assure them, a sore throat.
“Once you get into the office with the doctor, tell the doctor what you’ve told me, that you’re having trouble sleeping, you’re anxious all the time, often irritated,” she says.
To a farmer, a sore throat or another physical ailment is a legitimate reason to see a doctor. Farmers are more likely to make the appointment with that as an excuse than to say they’re depressed, she said. They might not even know they’re depressed. Once they see the doctor, they might open up and the doctor could direct them to a counselor or other clinician, Brown says.
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“By having a business-first family, you honor your family by doing the business right,” Jolene Brown says. “You can increase your productivity, profitability and peace of mind. And you can still sit together at the holiday table.” |
“I want people to first look into the mirror and take care of themselves and then their families,” she says.
Reaching out to check on their neighbors is critical as well, she adds.
Calling this a “tipping-point year,” Brown refers to the various stressors this year for farmers, including weather that delayed or prevented planting, international tariffs that have decreased demand for agricultural goods, and low prices for agricultural commodities.
Brown leans toward the unconventional in her approach to farm families who come to her trying to improve their businesses. In economically challenging times, farmers especially need a solid foundation for their businesses, she says.
“This is not a year when we can say, ‘Hang on for another two months and we’ll be back where we were,’” says Brown, who, together with her husband, farms corn and soybeans in Iowa.
One season of low commodity prices or one season of weather that affects yields can be dealt with, but some farmers have been struggling for several years. So they need to focus on what they can control or change about their business to do better, Brown says.
The most common mistake that proprietors of family-owned farms make is that they operate as a “family-first business,” she says.
That means they make decisions based on habits and assumptions while ignoring business realities and conflict.
“By having a business-first family, you honor your family by doing the business right,” she says. “You can increase your productivity, profitability and peace of mind. And you can still sit together at the holiday table.”
Editor’s note: Alayna DeMartini is a writer for the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State University.
