Progress report for FNC24-1443
Project Information
I have operated a pasture based farm selling regeneratively raised meat and eggs direct to consumer for the past 8 years. I spent 13 years working in the agriculture lending industry as a loan officer and commercial real estate appraiser. My own farm operation started with raising pastured broilers and selling at a local farmers market. The business has now expanded to include a farm store, regional shipping, and multiple local farm market partnerships. The farm provides the majority of our family income. My husband and I own 45 acres and rent additional acreage for our cattle operation. I own the farm business and direct the business decisions and marketing for the farm. I have studied and implemented digital marketing techniques since 2017, and in 2021 began incorporating mindset coaching techniques. I saw immediate benefits in the growth of our farm business, decreased stress, increased income, and in the quality of my relationships and overall satisfaction with farming. After experiencing the benefits of mindset management in my own farm and life, I completed a 6 month course and became certified to coach and teach mindset management to other farmers through Charlotte Smith's "Farmers Coaching Farmers" program. In the time we've been farming, I have watched numerous direct to consumer farms go out of business, marriages ending in divorce, and farm families struggle to make a living year after year. Charlotte Smith of 3 Cow Marketing states that 98% of direct to consumer farms go out of business within 5 years. While there are an abundance of programs helping beginning farmers access land, learn how to raise crops and livestock, gather social media followers and sell their products, teaching farmers the techniques to handle the stress, feel confident pricing their products to make a profit, and maintain quality of life and family relationships is seriously lacking. Mindset management is the missing link to building successful, profitable farms that are able to take care of the land well and build a fulfilling life with meaningful relationships. I am applying for this grant as an individual farmer, but will be bringing in other farmers who have also completed the Farmers Coaching Farmers course as consultants and contractors.
The problem this project will address is the mental health and
quality of life crisis happening in the agriculture industry,
especially among small, beginning and limited resource farmers.
While there are plenty of programs teaching farmers how to farm
and run a business, very few exist to support farmers through the
mental pressures of operating a successful farm long term. To
operate a truly sustainable farm, the operation needs to be
financially sustainable and producing a living wage for the
family, which then allows the farmer to care of the land and
resources on the farm and provides an adequate quality of life
for the farmer and the farm family. Overall, this is rarely
happening in the small farm world. Farmers are overworked,
underpaid, families relationships are strained, and the end
result is food insecurity when we can't keep farmers on the land
long term. The solution to this problem is teaching farmers to
rewire their mindset in order to calm down their lives, stop over
working, charge a fair and profitable price for their products,
set boundaries, create meaningful relationships, and build a
truly sustainable farm that is able to serve our communities long
term.
The project will be a pilot program for a mindset coaching
program specific for farmers to demonstrate the effectiveness of
coaching. Science has proven that our thoughts create our
emotions and our emotions drive all action, or inaction, which
then creates the results we have in our lives. Circumstances are
neutral and it's only how we react to situations that create
everything we have in our lives. Mindset coaching allows
participants to become aware of their own thought patterns and
begin to actively choose thoughts that create the results they
want in life and business. This project will offer mindset
coaching to a small pilot program of farmers. The coaching will
support them throughout most of a growing season from around
April to the end of November. Farmers will meet with a coach
monthly for a 45 minute session over Zoom (or similar video
conferencing system). In that conversation, farmers will be
prompted to bring one struggle to address in the coaching
session. Farmers will be led through a series of questions to
help them uncover the underlying thoughts and beliefs that are
holding them back, and helped to create a new thought that will
better serve them moving forward. Participants will also be
supported between coaching sessions with workbooks/journal
prompts reinforcing growth mindset concepts. Working through this
process with a coach and group of supportive peers allows
participants to become more aware of their thoughts and the
results they are creating even outside of coaching sessions.
Throughout the season, farmers will fill out feedback and survey
forms to track progress in their finances, quality of life,
overall satisfaction with farming, and share any other "wins"
they're experiencing as a result of mindset coaching. Farmers
will also be surveyed at the end of the season on if and how
mindset coaching contributed to their ability to care for their
land and resources in a more sustainable way. The results will be
compiled and shared via social media, podcast appearance, blog
posts, in person meetings with small groups of local farmers, and
at a regional farm conference in order to spread awareness of the
benefits of mindset coaching for farmers. The results of this
project will be used to customize future programming with the
goal of incorporating mindset coaching techniques into existing
beginning farmer programs and expanding to offer coaching to more
farm families.
The objectives of this project are:
- Create awareness about mindset coaching and it's benefits for
farmers and farm families. - Increase quality of life for farmers and their families by
allowing them to increase their income and work more sustainable
hours - Increase the long term success rate of small farms by
providing the support needed to build a truly sustainable farm
that provides the farm family a living wage, allows them to
sustainably care for their land and resources, and to maintain
quality family relationships - Provide a safe space for farmers to talk about stress and
struggles as a way to address some of the mental health issues in
the agriculture industry - Begin changing the culture of the agriculture industry so
farmers can see they are worthy of making a fair living wage
without working unsustainable hours
Research
My original plan was to jump directly into scheduling 1:1 coaching sessions, but I decided to spend 2024 fully developing the program and supporting workbooks, website, etc. before offering coaching slots. I decided to begin offering coaching sessions in Winter when farmers are typically in their slower season. So far in the project I have designed a website (has not gone live quite yet) along with worksheets, workbooks, and survey/feedback sheets along with setting up necessary technology like Zoom and Calendly to schedule and meet for coaching sessions. It's also given me an opportunity to have conversations with multiple farmers about the grant project, about mindset coaching and how it can positively impact their lives and operations, and to gather interest in joining this pilot program. I realized pretty quickly that this requires more time, preparation and education on the front end to make the coaching most effective and help farmers understand how mindset coaching can work for them. In conversations with farmers interested in participating I was able to gather a few common limiting beliefs, so I've tailored materials and resources in an effort to focus on those specific topics. I also realized that sometimes farmers don't realize they have these limiting beliefs holding them back until they're asked to answer specific questions about it. The new timeline I've set for the project is to spend December finalizing behind the scenes support documents and website, begin posting on social media channels more often about the coaching program, and begin onboarding and coaching farmers in early 2025. I plan to coach 10 farmer for 45 to 1 hour in a 6 week session.
While I don't have any results or data yet, I have found that just starting the conversation about mindset coaching and how it can impact farmers has opened up so many great conversations. I've chatted with farmers in person and via social media about the topic and it has been so encouraging to hear their excitement about support for farmers from other farmers who understand. I've also met resistance from farmers thinking mindset coaching is silly and would never work for them. Obviously not every person will be interested in a program like this, but I think the more education I can provide about mindset coaching topics in ways they can easily interact without having to actually sign up for a coaching appointment, like social media posts, blog posts, etc. will help explain the process and how it can help anyone. I also hope to share these resources so even if farmers aren't comfortable signing up for coaching sessions, they can still apply the concepts on their own as much as possible. So far I've directly interacted with at least 6 farmers about coaching and mindset topics.
Educational & Outreach Activities
Participation Summary:
Since being awarded the grant, I have been using my farms social media page, a new coaching social media page, my email list, and speaking with farmers in my community about the grant and mindset coaching. I've estimated above how many farmers who have reached out with questions through social media and in person about mindset coaching. Not all workbooks have been fully completed, more are still in draft form, but I attached the first 2 finished documents as an example. I realized early on that I needed to have more of a long range plan for sharing mindset coaching information and resources so I spent time this Summer talking to farmers, interacting on social media, and building a curriculum and plan based around the most common struggles. While we can coach on anything, I'm finding that starting by addressing limiting beliefs brings up so many mindset struggles holding farmers back. Once my coaching website is published I have a series of blog posts drafted to share on a specific coaching website I've created, plus will start engaging more on a separate instagram page specifically for this coaching project. My goal is to create resources that can be access by anyone, whether we're actively coaching or just being introduced to mindset work. I've also spoken with a farm marketing coach about potentially adding mindset coaching within her marketing course framework.
Learning Outcomes
The biggest thing I've learned so far is not to rush projects like this. I had originally planned to go straight into booking coaching calls so I could potentially expand the program by partnering with other organizations in 2025, but I realized I can be most effective and maximize outreach by slowing down to create a framework and resources before jumping straight into scheduling coaching sessions. I have been informally coaching one farmer friend, who when asked has reported being helped by our conversations.
By first identifying the most common farmer struggles and creating educational resources around that, I feel I can reach and help more farmers in a more impactful way. This project has impacted my own operation because as a farmer, I'm also drawing inspiration about what other farmers need from my own daily problem solving. I think the advantage of implementing a project like this is that I learn from teaching others. It also feels so good to be connecting with other farmers instead of living in my own bubble. So far I'm not experiencing any disadvantages. Based on where I am currently with the project, I would tell others there is so much need around helping farmers create work life balance and sustainable lifestyles while farming.
Project Outcomes
I have been informally coaching one farmer in Ohio who reports an increase in sales and excitement for future growth. She has taken steps to expand production, has gained clarity on her direction and goals, and it's been incredible to see how much her farm and life is thriving.