Evan Shout, CPA, CA

Some of the best ideas we've brought into @Farmer_Coach came from outside agriculture. There's a lot to learn from how other businesses manage people, capital and growth. Our fifth year starts in November. More at farmercoach.ca

I've spent plenty of time chasing the next milestone. Bigger goals, more money, another measure of success. But I've started asking myself a different question: What am I actually working toward? Let’s explore money, ambition and knowing when enough is enough. farmercoach.ca/the-thin-line…

We're trained to grow crops. But how much training do we get in marketing them or buying inputs? I had our team look at 20 years of data on yields, prices and fertilizer costs. Some interesting results. Latest Truth About Ag: thetruthaboutag.com/

The same land purchase can look like a terrible risk to one farmer and the opportunity of a lifetime to another. Our experiences have a lot to do with how we make financial decisions. Some thoughts inspired by The Psychology of Money and how it applies to farming. farmercoach.ca/the-thin-line…

More equipment isn't always the answer to getting more acres done. Sometimes the better investment is in the infrastructure supporting what you already own. Kristjan and I discuss what harvest 2026 taught us about both. thetruthaboutag.com/

A long harvest tests more than equipment. It tests the people running it. Kristjan shares how the HGV team kept morale up through a difficult season, including some simple things that made a difference. thetruthaboutag.com/

“Be friendly, not friends” is still some of the best HR advice I’ve been given. I used to think being close with employees made leadership easier. It does, right up until you have to tell someone something they don’t want to hear. thetruthaboutag.com/

One of the easiest HR mistakes to make is avoiding a small conversation until it becomes a big one. If someone is doing something well, tell them. If something isn’t working, deal with it then. Feedback needs to be provided early and often. thetruthaboutag.com/

A lot of farms grow the employee count before they grow the HR structure around it. Lyndsay Seafoot (@lyndsay_gillon) joined me to talk HR basics like the handbook, contracts, job descriptions, org chart and complexities. thetruthaboutag.com/

There isn’t one route into agriculture anymore. Production, finance, technology, policy, processing, logistics… the value chain keeps creating different places for good people to build careers. Candace Laing (@laingcandace) joined us on The Truth About Ag to talk about where those opportunities are heading. thetruthaboutag.com

A farm might be local. Its market rarely is. Candace Laing (@laingcandace) joined us on The Truth About Ag for a conversation about just how connected production agriculture is to consumers, trade and the broader economy. Sometimes it takes mustard and the New York Yankees to make that obvious. thetruthaboutag.com

Canadian agriculture has no shortage of expertise. The bigger question is whether we recognize and use it here at home. @CandaceLaing, CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (@CdnChamberofCom), joined us on The Truth About Ag to talk agriculture, business, policy and where Canada goes from here. thetruthaboutag.com

Have you sold grain when you didn’t want to because the operating line needed to be paid down? Passed on low-cost fertilizer that would have created a positive margin? Using credit is normal in farming. Having credit dictate financial decisions is something different. farmercoach.ca/playing-the-h…

Equity rich, cash poor is a saying in agriculture for a reason. If you continually need to borrow to fund operations, cover long-term obligations and pay personal living costs, you may already be behind in the hand. One restructure: weather. Two restructures: management. farmercoach.ca/playing-the-h…

Know your cost of production. Know where you make money and where you lose it. Know where you want the farm to be in five years. You don’t need to be a CPA, but you do need to be able to answer those questions about your business. thetruthaboutag.com/

You don’t have to take all the risk off the table. But you should know how much you’re choosing to leave there. Shaun Haney (@shaunhaney) talks about the gap between recognizing risk and actually managing it in our latest roundtable episode.

There’s a lot we can’t predict right now. Our conversation with Shaun Haney (@shaunhaney) and Tyler McCann (@mccanntyler) brings the uncertainty back to the farmgate: know your numbers, understand your risk and focus on the decisions you can make. New episode of The Truth About Ag.