Every Farm Has a Culture

Every Farm Has a Culture… Whether You Created It or Not 

Over the last 15 years, I’ve worked with farming businesses ranging from small family farms to large enterprises. Each has been different, but they all share one thing: a culture.

Often, nobody has consciously created it. It has simply evolved, shaped by the attitudes, habits and expectations that become accepted as “the way things are done around here.”

Culture isn’t about corporate mission statements. It’s about everyday working life: how new employees are welcomed, how mistakes are handled, how colleagues treat one another and whether people feel confident enough to speak up.

One farm I worked with had excellent technical systems but nothing that described how the team wanted to work together. So, rather than the owner creating a list of values, we involved everyone. The team discussed what made the farm a great place to work, what they admired in their best colleagues and what they didn’t want to see. From those conversations, they created a simple set of Core Values that genuinely reflected their farm and the standards they expected from one another.

Every farm has protocols explaining how to milk a cow, operate machinery or complete a task safely. But systems alone don’t create culture.

Systems tell people how to complete a task. Culture shapes how people treat one another while doing it.

When I returned to the farm later, I asked the owner how the values were working.

“We hardly have to mention them anymore,” he said.

Far from being forgotten, the team had started holding one another accountable. If someone stepped outside what they had collectively agreed was acceptable, colleagues would challenge it themselves.

A phrase had started to emerge:

“That’s not how we behave here.”

For me, that says everything about a strong culture.

At a time when agriculture is struggling to attract and retain good people, culture can be a genuine competitive advantage. Modern facilities and good pay matter, but so do leadership, respect, clear expectations and feeling part of a team.

So ask yourself: if somebody joined your farm tomorrow, would they quickly understand not only how you do things, but also how you expect people to treat one another?

Every farm has a culture. The choice is whether you leave it to chance or create it with purpose.

Paul Harris
Managing Director, REAL Success 

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