Helping farm families communicate and resolve conflict

If there is one thing Elaine Froese is passionate about, it’s that conflict is not a bad thing. This week’s guest, Elaine Froese, is Canada’s Farm Whisperer. She spends her time coaching farm families through growth and transition, with an emphasis on understanding.

Elaine grew up as a farm kid, and fell in love with and married a seed farmer over 40 years ago. Together, she and her husband have had their fair share of growth and change on the farm. In this episode, she shared with us her knowledge on how to resolve and overcome challenges, not avoid them.

About our guest:

Elaine Froese, Canada's Farm Whisperer, is helping farm families in transition find harmony through understanding. Elaine farms a 5,000-acre seed farm in SW Manitoba Canada with her husband, son and daughter in-law, and 3 adorable grandchildren. She's on a mission to get clarity of expectations and certainty of timelines for better communication.

You can connect with Elaine on all social media @farmfamilycoach, or through her upcoming speaking events.

This is an important topic; one that can’t be summed up with simple numbers and data. Real people face mental health issues everyday. It’s important to remember that they’re people, with lives and families and friends.

In this episode, I wanted to talk about the reality that mental health issues are very prevalent in all facets of the agriculture industry. Specifically, farming is a very isolating career, which can magnify mental health issues.

If you, or someone you know, are facing mental health challenges of any kind, I encourage you to talk to someone. You are not alone.

Farming is a livelihood rooted in family, no matter where you are. From navigating the barriers to entry to dairy farming to celebrating the successes of a growing business, New Jersey dairy farmer, Sarah Lyness, shared her story on our second episode of the Farming on Purpose podcast.

While Sarah didn’t grow up in a dairy family, or even a farming family, she’s using those experiences to help educate those outside of the industry. It’s important for her to share with others the life lessons farming has taught her as well. Never forget to appreciate even the smallest things, like the sunset view over the dairy barn.

Sarah and her husband got their start by adding a dairy to his family’s existing farming operation. They now also operate a creamery, run by Dan’s mom. Together, they’re all tackling, and overcoming, the unique challenges dairy farming presents.

The beef industry is a complex and unknown process for most. On our first episode, guest Cassidy Johnston, breaks down the complexities of ranching beef cattle and how those ranchers are also environmental stewards.

At its core, ranching is a family task. Cassidy learned this first-hand as a first-generation rancher. She and her husband, and their three sons, now operate a cattle ranch in Colorado. Cassidy’s unique journey to ranching has given her the insight to communicate with the average consumer about how and where their food was produced.