The GWC of hiring, risk management equations, and marketing tips and tricks— LIVE! with Kristjan Hebert

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When we say “knowing your numbers” in agriculture, there’s knowing the basics, then there’s the level of today’s guest.

In this RealAg LIVE! host Kara Oosterhuis is joined by Kristjan Hebert, farmer at Fairlight, Sask., with a CPA and a firm background that helps him increase revenue for his farm and for others.

RealAg LIVE! returns January 4, 2021 at 3pm E!

SUMMARY

  • 25,000 ish acres, canola, malt barley, wheat, rye, oats, peas
  • Farm succession, started out on a mixed farm, split the farm up into two operations, grain, and cattle
  • Top producer of the year in 2020. Up till now it’s been primarily U.S. winners
  • Who’s on the team? Seven to eight full time employees, and a consulting team for accounting/finance
  • Does Kristjan care that they come from a farm? Do they “get the role”, “want the role”, and have the “capacity for the role”
  • Focus is on transferrable skill sets
  • Global Ag Risk Solutions, Maverick Ag, risk management and financial services
  • Hybrid agronomy/scouting program. Scouting handled in-house, out-of-house variable rate prescriptions and fertility plans. Kristjan and his dad handle the crop planning
  • A risk management equation!
  • Looking forward: growing any different crops? Malt barley is the “baby,” peas, oats, fall rye slide in and out of the rotation
  • FPT meetings bringing in some friction
  • Kristjan handles the marketing. Tips and tricks?
  • What percent of the crop can you store vs how much has to be moved off the combine? How does that impact the marketing plan?
  • He’s not afraid of grain bags, the bin yard is expanding
  • What expense line item could be better managed by most producers, or which one would be a surprise to most farmers as they budget for 2021?
  • How many more acres could I farm with the equipment I have, if I added one more human?
  • Depreciation, custom work, and leases is a basket that needs to be tracked
  • Volatility on income statements for repairs and fuel are a surprise to watch out for
  • Benchmarking ratios, per acre amounts for gross margin/labour/machinery
  • Risk management, what are people missing? 9/10 producers, August 15, crop just froze, can’t answer “How much money did you lose?”
  • Risk management in marketing?
  • Lots of tech out there, what is Kristjan implementing? T-sheets, What’sApp, Trello, inexpensive tech that streamlines a lot of processes.
  • Not a buyer of new equipment, drones aren’t on his radar yet, but once they get to the right stage, he’ll invest
  • How has COVID-19 affected things?
  • Final message? Keep a close eye on each other from a mental health aspect. Don’t forget to recharge. “Don’t be too tough to talk about the tough stuff.”

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RealAg LIVE! (view all)Season 1 (2020) Episode 1
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