MANAGEMENT

I was sitting in a sea of financial planners, beside the Atlantic Ocean in Halifax Harbour, while Anthony Williams delivered his thoughts regarding the huge amount of wealth transferring in our great country. Williams graciously gave me his notes to translate what this huge transfer may mean to farm families.

Annual goals, whether outlined at a company’s annual meeting or a personal New Year’s resolution, all have the same challenges. With a full year allotted to accomplish them, the sense of urgency is diminished, and those involved become complacent.

The cropping season is behind us for another year, and the meeting season officially kicked off for me the last week of November, first with a brief stop in Winnipeg, Manitoba, for Farm Management Canada’s Agriculture Excellence Conference, and then on to Vancouver for the British Columbia Dairy Industry Conference.

With an equal balance of men and women in the workplace, it’s important for men and women to learn to understand each other and work better together. Whether working on a farm, in a plant or in an office, gender differences are everywhere.

Can you download an app that will raise financially savvy kids? I would say, more than likely, no. In today’s educational system, many kids can’t or won’t take courses in banking, personal finance or budgeting.

Without a doubt, you’ve read a half-dozen or more articles in the past several months about managing a dairy operation during periods of low margins. I initially thought this would be another of those articles; however, I’ve changed my mind and decided to offer a different message.