Your Food Stars With Honest Conversations

Put a group of ten ranchers and farmers in a room, like we did the last three days at our Executive Link meeting, and you're going to get more ideas than you could act on in a lifetime. Every conversation brings up an opportunity for a new enterprise. These people are so innovative, so passionate about the land, about food, about how to raise it and share it with others, it's overwhelming.

We hear a lot these days about the loneliness epidemic in this country. Farmers and ranchers know something about that. Most days, it's just you, the land, and the animals, making the calls alone, living with them alone. So there's something almost countercultural about what happens in this room. Ten people who are used to figuring it out on their own step out of that comfort zone and let each other in. It's not easy. It's also some of the most powerful work we do all year.

A view of Cody and Eliza out moving the cow herd on the Montana ranch this morning.

Our entire three days is about creating an actionable plan and focusing. It's distilling the big ideas down to one to three clear next steps, answering the question: what's the most important thing this business is facing right now? It means being the best active listener you can be, trying to figure out what this business needs to focus on right now.

It's a hard question to answer. Truly, there are a lot of things each business has to focus on just to maintain business as usual but we're looking for the opportunity for real, impactful change. What could make, or save, this business $100,000? That's a lot of responsibility to help figure out.

We do it for every business in the room. It's intense - the desire to give each one the best ideas and thoughts you can offer, knowing they're going to do the same for you. That they'll read between the lines of what you're describing and see what you haven't seen yet. That's the power in the room.

It's exhausting.
It's exhilarating.
And when you do hit on a great plan for a business, it's all worth it.

The open spaces are beautiful but they can get lonely. Behind every pasture, every animal, and every piece of food is a farmer making decisions every day. That’s why we’re building a community where farmers can lean on each other, learn from each other, and grow together.

It builds a strong community, one we can lean on when we need it. We help each other come up with a solid plan to take home. We hold each other accountable to executing it. We grow. We improve. We take what we learn and make our businesses better.

Then we go back to help others in our next three-day intensive, to the best of our abilities, and to see what help they might offer us in return, as we all keep growing, adapting, and becoming the best we can be.

Because here's the thing: every hour we spend getting better at this work is an hour that goes back into your food. A stronger business means better care for the animals and the land. It means we're still here next year, and the year after that.

When we help each other grow, we're not just building better businesses, we're building a stronger, more resilient food system, one that can support more farms and feed more people well.

Your Farmer,
Andrea

I'd love to know: What's the "room" in your life? Who's the group or person who's helped you figure out what really matters? Leave a comment and let me know. I'd love to hear your story.