Category: Succession

St. Paul Mission Historical Society Event

St. Paul, Oregon has a long history not just of farming but also of family, friends, and traditions.

I have been asked to come and speak during the annual meeting of the St. Paul Mission Historical Society this year (below is a copy of their newsletter that holds all the details).

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I’m very excited about this chance and have been thinking about what to talk about for awhile. I think I’m narrowing in on a little of my family history here as farmers, along with some good stories about how the women before me may not have had the title as farmer, but worked just as hard.

gpa & gma kirschMy sister and I with our Grandpa & Grandma Kirsch…St. Paul Farmers.

So I would like to extend an invite to anyone who is interested to come and say hi. All I ask is that you keep in mind that I’m a farmer not a public speaker. But I’m hoping it will be worth your time to come and learn about where I come from.

Here are a few of the details:  The Annual Meeting of the St. Paul Mission Historical Society will be held on Sunday, October 19, 2014 at 11:30 a.m. at the St. Paul Fire District office located in St. Paul. A light brunch will be provided at no charge. In order to provide an accurate head count, please RSVP to mernst@mtangel.net or 503.845.6208 and leave a message.

America’s Best Young Farmer & Rancher

Last week Matt and I along with my parents headed east, before the crazy weather thank goodness, to attend the Annual DTN/Progressive Farmer Ag Summit in Chicago.  The reasons were a little for fun and a little for business.  The first reason though was that I was very honored to receive an award from DTN, Progressive Farmer Magazine & John Deere for being one of America’s Top  Young Farmers and Ranchers for 2014!  I can’t even tell you how incredible it was to receive this award.  I am part of the fourth class who can be proud to say they are America’s Best Young Farmers & Ranchers!  The award recognizes not only your work on your own farm or ranch, but also what you do in your community, for your industry, and beyond just the day to day tasks that keep you plenty busy on a farm.

I have to say that being honored for something that I am so passionate about, well,  it was all very humbling.  As I was sitting up there listening to the short bios of the other award recipients I kept thinking about how each and every one of us, award or not, wouldn’t change a thing about what we’re doing.  All of us are doing what we love, we’re working hard because we’re passionate about being good stewards of the land.  Although all of our stories were very different, all of our backgrounds diverse in many respects, the one thing that remained obvious is that we all are proud of what we do, and we all were genuinely grateful for this honor.  And even beyond that, we’re all under 40 years old; this is the next generation of farmers that you’re looking at right here in the picture below.

1457610_10202747228431528_1222457964_nThere will be more written about each of the award recipients in the February edition of Progressive Farmer, so I’ll keep you updated once it’s up and you can see what I mean about these other amazing farmers & ranchers that I’m standing next to.  You can read a little more about each of us in this article posted right after the award lunch, click HERE.

The program at the annual Ag Summit was very interesting.  I have to say that I expected a lot more just corn and soy bean focus (since most of the people at the conference were from the Mid West aka Corn & Soybean country) but there were many topics and speakers that spoke to all industries.  For instance the President of the Dallas Federal Reserve, Richard Fisher, spoke about fiscal policy and was very candid about how he felt about where things are going today.  “The time is upon us to obtain a more humble monetary policy.”  Other topics included land prices, weather, commodity pricing in the future, etc.

We did get to go off in and around Chicago to have some fun while we were there.  So for the non-business business…we were able to visit with a few friends who farm west of Chicago, Katie & Andy Pratt.

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We thought about seeing the Bears game (it was -12 out) so we went to the Bulls game instead!

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We headed up to the top of the Sears Tower, 103 stories!

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Matt stayed near the middle of the building 🙂

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Took a cab and saw “The Bean”

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Decided to be tough and walked back to the hotel…then realized that we might actually be getting frostbite (we are wussy…but we made it!)

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And had dinner with a T-Rex named Sue.

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Having family there to support me was amazing.  Plus it was very interesting talking with other farmers, many times about succession planning, and having both generations there to speak to our experiences was so helpful to the conversations we had.  Plus my dad was able to boast that, “I’ve only taught her half I know and she’s already getting awards!” (haha!)  So thank you to DTN, Progressive Farmer and John Deere for this wonderful experience!  It’s something that I will never forget and forever treasure.  It will also always be something that I will look back on and make sure that I’m still doing my best to be one of America’s Top Farmers!

Manager vs. Employee

There comes a time when you realize that you have to train someone to do a job that you are very capable of.  It’s an easy job, one that’s so easy, as a now manager of the farm you think to yourself, “Now there is a job where I can just relax.  I can think about what is going on at our farm, I can sing to the radio, I can sort of hide out from my manager jobs.”  While sitting in a John Deere the other day this “hiding out” feeling was exactly what I felt.

I don’t know if I’m the only farm manager who feels this way.  But there are times when having employees stare at you and ask,  “What are we doing today?”, or “What is on the agenda?”, or “How do I do this again?” can seem a bit overwhelming.  So the thought that it would be quicker if I just did it myself, creeps into my mind.  And the harsh reality I’m finding is that yes, it would be much faster to just do it myself, but it would never get done, because quite frankly I just don’t have the time.

So last week I finally trained someone to drive that very same John Deere I was trying to hide out in.  It went well, but as I drove away from the field after a few hours of training, leaving a huge tractor in the hands of a 15 year old with a cell phone I had a moment where I was pretty sure I was losing my mind.  Until I remembered, I was driving that same sized tractor at 14…I survived…the tractor survived… move on!

Going through this transition of becoming the manager on our farm I’m finding that it’s not always easy being the main decision maker.  And although some days, especially when it’s hectic in the summer time, I wish I could just go to the morning meeting and have someone just tell me what to do that day, what’s on the agenda, and how I do that again.  But then I drive away the second day from the field, leaving that same big old John Deere, with the same cell phone enabled 15 year old, and I know that finally taking the time to train someone is paying off.

I think that I’m getting a very small glimpse of what it must feel like to hand over any type of management or jobs on a farm where you have worked so hard your whole life.  When I think about succession planning a lot of times I don’t really understand why people wouldn’t want to retire and pass down what they have built to the next generation.  Of course there are many generational changes between myself and those who have built this farm into what it is today.  But I think that this feeling I’m feeling has something to do with it as well.  I can do it better myself, I can do it faster myself, because I’ve been doing it for decades!  So with my 7 months under my belt of management, I’m really glad I have a patient father who realized this part of letting go long before I did.  So I’m off to our morning meeting today at the farm to look at those faces and tell them, what they are doing today, what’s on the agenda and how they do it.