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Do you know what millennial farmers really want?<\/p>\n
I recently had the privilege of meeting a group of the Alberta Young Farmers.They were young, energetic and positive about their future in agriculture.<\/p>\n
Here are ten things I learned from them about what millennial farmers want in life.<\/p>\n
Millennials have ideas and opinions.<\/p>\n
Respect their need to feel they have many things to contribute to the operation.<\/p>\n
If ideas have been well-researched, give time and thought to incorporating that discussion in your farm business meeting.<\/p>\n
You are having regular farm business meetings<\/a>, aren\u2019t you?<\/p>\n \u201cElaine, I would give anything to be on the farm, but my parents sold ours.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n How about adopting this young, aspiring farmer as your son?<\/p>\n A dairy farm couple in Saskatchewan has given a chance to farm their operation to a young man who lives in town, across the road. Another dairy farmer in Eastern Manitoba has a 10-year written employment agreement with a young lad who started on the farm at fifteen and now owns quota, land, and the house his employer keeps the mortgage on.<\/p>\n What a chance!<\/p>\n A bachelor uncle is giving his nephew guidance and leverage opportunities, so he can leave a legacy to the younger generation. A fruit-grower in B.C. gives homeless people dignity and respect by training them to work in his orchard while they live in a camper.<\/p>\n Comb the high school hallways for young folks who love to weld and fix things, and don\u2019t want to depart to the big city!<\/p>\n Millennials are the kids who have grown up \u201cwired\u201d.<\/p>\n They have no fear of technology, and just keep pressing buttons until they figure things out.<\/p>\n Their \u201ctechie\u201d skills come in handy for setting the grain monitors and auto-steer, and helping figure out the GPS.<\/p>\n They have no problem using Ag software<\/a> to track records. So, train them to do the books and tracking.<\/p>\n This means letting go of some power and control and seeing the opportunity for a really well-trained business planning team. They\u2019ll design your new website, and maybe even get you blogging!<\/p>\n [Tweet “#Millennials on the #farm: Here are 10 things they want in life.”]<\/p>\n \u201cMoney is highly overrated,\u201d quipped one young farm son who plans to seek outside interests and fun off the farm.<\/p>\n Millennials want quality of life at age 30, and will not be workaholics like their grandparents or parents.<\/p>\n They reject a lifestyle that is all work and look for creative ways to have a margin for fun.<\/p>\n Some will even refuse to work full-time.<\/p>\n Some farms are designing shift work modeled after other industry sectors to ensure workers can watch their children\u2019s hockey games and have family time beyond the demands of the farm.<\/p>\n This approach is working for larger farm corporations in Saskatchewan who are tired of the \u201coil-patch debate citing labor as a tough issue.\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019ve found that the quality of life argument wins over the high stakes single lifestyle of the oil patch.<\/p>\n Millenials are committed to making the farm work, but not necessarily in the same way.<\/p>\n Many millennials will have an off-farm income stream to offset mortgages that may be held by Mom and Dad.<\/p>\n When they choose to dedicate all their working time to the farm, it may mean a change in lifestyle, or not.<\/p>\n The young farmers I\u2019ve talked to are entrepreneurs who see a future in agriculture.<\/p>\n They have multiple skill sets and work strategically with new farm business models to create the future they envision.<\/p>\n This may mean joining another existing farmer to create a larger dairy farm, with two unrelated families in the business partnership.<\/p>\n I recently enjoyed the exciting phone call of a young dairy farmer who was exploring a creative legal alliance with his best friend, another dairy farmer. The families are exploring ways to keep some lifestyle freedom and have the return on energy and investment of a joint venture.<\/p>\n Young farmers like to travel and learn about global agricultural issues, but let\u2019s be realistic\u2026<\/p>\n Advocates need to pay attention to the details they are managing on their own farm.<\/p>\n These millennial farmers can\u2019t be off the farm for four days of meetings. Try to think of ways to meet virtually with phones, computers, and pre-meeting power-point presentations.<\/p>\n The energy of youth and management responsibilities need to be considered when agricultural policy leaders expect the same old way of policy planning in person.<\/p>\n Women will be involved if they don\u2019t have childcare issues, so webinars are a great tool for communicating without leaving the farm<\/a>.<\/p>\n We have two farming friends who scuba dive, which is a difficult feat in the flatlands of the prairies.<\/p>\n Millennials have lists of what they want to accomplish because they are used to trying everything they want to.<\/p>\n Paint-balling, extreme sports, bungee jumping, travel abroad for a walkabout in Australia or New Zealand are on their lists.<\/p>\n Millennials are multitaskers; they listen to their favorite tunes while emailing, playing a game, and doing a business plan.<\/p>\n Maybe some of the millennial work habits aren\u2019t quite up to your standards: The bins could be cleaner, and the cattle need to be fed more efficiently, but the job is done, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n Wanting fewer hassles, millennials may struggle to take difficult feedback.<\/p>\n Any negative comments may be hard to receive, as these kids are used to success, high achievement, and always getting what they want.<\/p>\n Parents may interfere with their performance appraisals if they have some weaknesses that need to be improved.<\/p>\n Conflict is a normal part of life<\/a>, especially on the farm. So why do some of these young people have a hard time processing disagreements or negative feedback?<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I try to be firm with my son, he quickly accuses me of being angry. I am just trying to get his attention with my tone of voice and ensure that he is receiving the message!\u201d<\/p>\n Millennial farmers want to know what\u2019s going on in the world because successful farmers read.<\/p>\n Fast Company<\/i> is my magazine of choice for a cultural snapshot of what is happening in our world.<\/p>\n Millennial farmers want to stay connected and communicate with others who are in their social group.<\/p>\n Keeping in touch by email and phone allow for great opportunities to network and acquire new possibilities.<\/p>\n As you can see, millennial farmers want a lot out of life. You might notice that many of the things millennial farmers want aren\u2019t too different from what you or I or other generations might want, either.<\/p>\n Finding that common ground is a great building block for successful relationships.<\/p>\n Would you like more help securing your farming relationships and handling generational transfers? Contact me today to learn about my farm succession planning<\/a> and farm family coaching<\/a>!<\/p>\n This article was originally published on March 21, 2017, and has been updated.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article and you\u2019d like to dive deeper, don\u2019t miss these posts:<\/p>\n The 5 Ways of Dealing With Conflict on the Farm<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Do you know what millennial farmers really want? I recently had the privilege of meeting a group of the Alberta Young Farmers.They were young, energetic and positive about their future in agriculture. Here are ten things I learned from them about what millennial farmers want in life. To be heard. Millennials have ideas and opinions.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3,586,323,831,76,832,833,398],"class_list":["post-2633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-communication","tag-farm-communication","tag-farm-life","tag-farm-lifestyle","tag-farmers","tag-millennial-farmer-wants","tag-millennial-farmers","tag-young-farmers"],"yoast_head":"\nTo have a chance.<\/h2>\n
To use their head more than their back.<\/h2>\n
To have a life.<\/h2>\n
The freedom and independence of farming.<\/h2>\n
To be globally smart.<\/h2>\n
A wide range of experiences.<\/h2>\n
To just get it done.<\/h2>\n
To know what\u2019s going on.<\/h2>\n
To stay wired.<\/h2>\n
\nHow to Communicate To the Different Generations on the Farm<\/a>
\nEvolving Farm Family Roles<\/a><\/p>\n