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Episodes
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
Sunday Oct 31, 2021
And so, I continue my series of interviews with remarkable rural Australian women.
Ladies & gentlemen, meet Lyn Sykes.
Spending some time in nursing and counselling in her early career, Lyn found herself invited to help a group of farmers better manage family communication… and the rest, as they say, is history!
Thirty years plus and a highly successful career later, Lyn has become an icon in our industry on all things family alignment, communication and succession.
Having studied with Lyn over 20 years ago as a ‘whipper-snapper’ farm consultant, it is with great pleasure that I re-connect with her to discuss a host of critical family farming topics, including:
where and why farm succession goes wrong;
how communication can fall apart;
what helps make it right;
Lyn’s process for fostering good outcomes; and
the role you best play as the mother, father, son, daughter, in-law or out-law to each succession conversation!
As you will glean, I have a lot of respect for Lyn. I see her as a true pioneer of this space and someone who has had a significant and understated contribution to our industry.
I hope that this podcast does her career justice whilst helping you check in and make improvements to how you are navigating this important conversation.
Thank you, Lyn - enjoy all, and keep winning!
Jeremy Hutchings
When you’re ready to take the next step and work with us, here are three things you can do:
1. Subscribe to our ‘Profitable Farmer’ podcastThis free audio podcast delivers ideas to help you run a great business – leading to more profit, control and freedom – Click here.2. Join the Farm Owner Academy’s closed Facebook group ‘Profitable Farmer’Our new Facebook community is where smart farm owners learn how to get more profit, control and freedom, and you can connect with like-minded farm owners – Click here to join.3. Work with us privatelyIf you’d like our team to help you scale up your farming business or create a ‘freedom farm’ just email us at support@farmownersacademy.comand put “Private” in the subject line… tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to improve and I’ll send you the information you need to get started!
Monday Oct 18, 2021
Monday Oct 18, 2021
Strong Commodity Prices, a favourable season (for many!), low interest rates and strong capital gains… have you EVER seen such optimism?
In Greg Johnsson’s opinion – this is (for most!) about as good as it gets.
And he is right – if you are not making solid profits now, there could be something wrong in your farm business.
In this Podcast, I call on FOA Founder and fellow Director Greg Johnsson to answer three key questions:
What do we do to make the most of the optimism we are experiencing?
How can we justify an expansion step given the current land values?
What are the key financial metrics I need to be monitoring to make the best on-farm decisions at this time?
Greg is second to none in the on-farm analysis space and shares the importance of knowing your numbers, benchmarking, and making robust, confident decisions based on the numbers in front of us.
Importantly, for those wanting to develop your financial skill-set, I give a real insight into FOA’s Farm Financial Framework program.
This program is 40 years of Greg’s experience condensed into a practical, applicable finance program designed to help you get the skills & tools you need around you to make the very best farm expansion decisions.
Simply, there is nothing like it in the industry.
We are offering this program at an incredibly favourable price of $1,500 (plus GST), but be quick as this intake (and the last for 2021) will close on Friday 22nd October 2021.
Click here to learn more about the Farm Financial Framework Program.
Your time on the header or in a chaser bin could be very well spent this harvest… focused on this course and on getting the ‘shot in the arm’ you need on this important topic of farm finance.
The formula is simple:
Step 1: Learn financial management.
Step 2: Optimise the farm you have.
Step 3: Expand your optimised farm across more area.
Don’t miss MAJOR expansion opportunities because of a lack of financial management skills. Instead, take yourself and your development in this area seriously.
Your success (in my humble opinion) truly starts here.
Thanks once again, Greg, and well done.
Keep winning, and all the best in this cracking business environment!Hutch
P.S Don’t miss out on joining our 14-week Farm Financial Framework Program. This course is designed to help you profit more and become a stronger farm business owner by learning the language of finance. Please click here to learn more.
*Registrations close 22nd October 2021 or until sold out.
When you’re ready to take the next step and work with us, here are three things you can do:
1. Subscribe to our ‘Profitable Farmer’ podcastThis free audio podcast delivers ideas to help you run a great business – leading to more profit, control and freedom – Click here.2. Join the Farm Owner Academy’s closed Facebook group ‘Profitable Farmer’Our new Facebook community is where smart farm owners learn how to get more profit, control and freedom, and you can connect with like-minded farm owners – Click here to join.3. Work with us privatelyIf you’d like our team to help you scale up your farming business or create a ‘freedom farm’ just email us at support@farmownersacademy.comand put “Private” in the subject line… tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to improve and I’ll send you the information you need to get started!
Friday Oct 01, 2021
Friday Oct 01, 2021
Do you have an overly active mind and struggle at times with overthinking ??
Trust me on this. YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
As farmers, we often work alone and have a heap of time to think… deeply… about things that serve us AND things that may not.
This interview with FOA Head Coach Tracy Secombe reminds us that we are trained to be ‘in our heads’ and logically problem-solve to ‘manufacturer’ our goals, plans, and futures. This can become exhausting, and perhaps there is an alternative way of creating your future you might like to explore…
I used to overthink intensely, and it has taken me to a chapter in my life where I suffered from low self-esteem, depression and burnout. Learning to take control of this has been a major turning point in my life.
As farm-focused entrepreneurs, being aware of, being able to slow down and then master our thoughts is fundamental to our success.
Not doing this can be a significant contributor to mental fatigue, burnout, low self-esteem and depression.
In this podcast, Tracy & I explore overthinking in detail. The specific things you can do to bring awareness to this and proactively take steps to ‘unclutter’, slow down and move from negative and busy self-talk. And how to reach a calm, composed, positive and even powerful internal thought-process and narrative.
If this is relevant for you, and in the spirit of this month being Mental Health Month, I can personally recommend Tracy’s 7 Day Calmness Code Challenge to help you make a very positive first step in a new and life-changing way forward.
https://go.soulpleaser.com/7-day-calmness-code-challenge41824999
Congratulations on becoming a Director at Farm Owners Academy Tracy, we are delighted to have you part of our Leadership team !!
Thank you, Tracy – incredible as always!
Jeremy
When you’re ready to take the next step and work with us, here are three things you can do:1. Subscribe to our ‘Profitable Farmer’ podcastThis free audio podcast delivers ideas to help you run a great business – leading to more profit, control and freedom – Click here.2. Join the Farm Owner Academy’s closed Facebook group ‘Profitable Farmer’Our new Facebook community is where smart farm owners learn how to get more profit, control and freedom, and you can connect with like-minded farm owners – Click here to join.3. Work with us privatelyIf you’d like our team to help you scale up your farming business or create a ‘freedom farm’ just email us at support@farmownersacademy.com and put “Private” in the subject line… tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to improve and I’ll send you the information you need to get started!
Wednesday Sep 15, 2021
Wednesday Sep 15, 2021
If you love food & cooking, Maggie Beer is Australia’s much-loved national icon and go-to authority.
If you love your kids, it’s Maggie Dent!
Well-known to many of you and revered as the ‘The Queen of Common Sense’, Maggie is an absolute champion on all things parenting.
Maggie’s roots are very strongly tied to Agriculture. She is passionate about this community – our strength, endurance, resilience, and success for our families.
She gets it. She gets us.
Maggie has so SO much to offer. During this episode, we scratch the surface on how to be:
Better husbands and wives;
mainstays for our boys;
carers to our daughters;
rocks in our families; and
great citizens within our communities.
Maggie has changed Jane & my life, and helped us immensely as we navigate what it takes to raise four little people in our world.
We love her books, we value her courses, and I highly recommend her Podcast – Parental As Anything!
As we navigate COVID restrictions, lockdown challenges and all things involved with remote learning, I hope this Podcast helps you at this time.
I also hope it gives you some inspiration – as she does me – on how we can be a better life partners to that one person we love most in this world.
Thank you, Maggie, for all you do for Australian families and our children.
Simply, WOW.
Jeremy
PS. CLICK HERE to learn more about Maggie and the amazing work she does (including upcoming events and online courses) or dive straight into Maggie’s Podcast – Parental as Anything! By clicking HERE.
PPS: Please share this with others in our industry and give us a review on Facebook or Google… and thank you for helping us share stories like these more broadly.
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
Tuesday Aug 31, 2021
My podcast has been hijacked!!!
In this Episode, Farm Owners Academy’s Farm Business Coach, David Westbrook, takes the reins and interviews an extraordinary woman making a big, big difference in the lives of thousands of families.
Back in 2016, David experienced a life-changing lesson.
That lesson?
‘Humans sacrifice their health in order to make money. Then they sacrifice money to recuperate their health.’- Dalai Lama
Through the curiosity of this lesson, David & his wife Becky went searching for mentors to improve their health. That’s when they came across Jo Whitton.
Jo is best known for helping people journey to good health through healing foods and ‘food as medicine’. She has over 270,000 Facebook followers and uses her social media platforms along with her cookbooks and retreats to educate people to a better way of living using a healing, whole food diet without the overwhelm.
In this episode, you will learn how you can change your life through some simple lessons. This is a game-changer where David & Jo explore…
their personal stories and how Gut Health has impacted them;
how to get started with gut-healing foods;
what is the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) diet;
how you can take steps towards a better way of living; and
why fad diets have confused us all.
We hope this podcast will impact you and help you make meaningful and lasting changes in your and your families health, just as these lessons have for the Westbrook family.
Here’s to good, wholesome health.
Well done Westy!
Hutch
PS. Interested in learning more? You can listen to Jo’s A Quirky Journey podcast, join in conversations on the Quirky Cooking Facebook pageand Instagram, as well as in the Quirky Cooking Chat Group
PPS: Please share this with others in our industry and give us a review on Facebook or Google… and thank you for helping us share stories like these more broadly.
Saturday Jul 31, 2021
Saturday Jul 31, 2021
Over 15,000 kilometres of new fencing completed
More than 16,000 kilometres of old fencing cleaned up or restored
In excess of 11,000 farming families lifted from adversity
Many thousands of communities deeply impacted
The lives of so many completely transformed
It gives me great pleasure to introduce Kevin Butler to share his BlazeAid Story.
In the aftermath of the 2009 Black Saturday fires, after a simple request for help to an iconic national community including over 30,000 volunteers… this is truly one of Australia’s greatest regional & rural stories.
The reach and impact BlazeAid has, and will continue to have, on the lives of those adversely affected by fire, flood and the vagaries of our incredible landscape - in terms of both physical farm and individual farmer recovery - is immeasurable.
It is now not surprising to me that when I first called BlazeAid to ask for help on behalf of two of our members, Kevin - its Founder and Chairman - answered my call. On top of that, he was generous enough to take my call only moments before walking into Parliament House to be awarded the Australian Farming Legend of the Year 2021/2022.
Finally, it shouldn’t now surprise me that within 48 hours of that call, a BlazeAid Camp had landed, set up and started operations in Heyfield Victoria. A team of volunteers at the ready to help local farmers conquer their journey to flood recovery.
Kevin’s tireless enthusiasm and deep passion speaks for itself. His determination and commitment to serving others in need and seeing BlazeAid make an impact when it matters to as many as possible is incredible.
Kevin, thank you for your time. We honour the contribution you, Rhonda and your team make to the Australian farming community.
To all those BlazeAid volunteers who dedicate their time to help farmers in need – rural Australia honours you.
To follow the BlazeAid story or join their community, you can connect with them via their website or Facebook page. You can also read Issue One of the BlazeAid Post here - issue two will follow soon, which will include the first of Kevin’s memoirs!
Finally, to those in recovery, all of rural Australia is here for you should you need us.
Thank you.
Jeremy & the Farm Owners Academy Team.
When you’re ready to take the next step and work with us, here are three things you can do:1. Subscribe to our ‘Profitable Farmer’ podcastThis free audio podcast delivers ideas to help you run a great business – leading to more profit, control and freedom – Click here.2. Join the Farm Owner Academy’s closed Facebook group ‘Profitable Farmer’Our new Facebook community is where smart farm owners learn how to get more profit, control and freedom, and you can connect with like-minded farm owners – Click here to join.3. Work with us privatelyIf you’d like our team to help you scale up your farming business or create a ‘freedom farm’ just email us at support@farmownersacademy.com and put “Private” in the subject line… tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to improve and I’ll send you the information you need to get started!
Thursday Jul 15, 2021
Thursday Jul 15, 2021
Managing people, both family and in farming business, can undoubtedly be one of our greatest challenges.
Not only do we have to navigate delicate working relationships with our brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, mothers and fathers – grandmothers and grandfathers for some too! But, equally, we have casual, full-time, part-time, contractor, client and supplier relationships to ‘wrangle’, navigate, manage, influence and inspire.
With this in mind in this podcast, I ask Sam Johnsson, the new General Manager here at Farm Owners Academy (FOA), to share his experience and insight into all things leadership.
Sam is a cracking bloke – calm, composed, thoughtful, measured, pragmatic, collaborative yet decisive. He joins FOA after ten highly successful years in management with the leading Australasian advisory & building engineering firm, Aurecon.
Over the past three years, Sam progressed to becoming one of the youngest Directors at Aurecon, responsible for the results and performance of over 65 professionals within his region.
Quite simply put, he has been responsible for managing a diverse range of personalities and individuals, from 18 to 60 years of age, from varied cultural backgrounds, and spanning all abilities.
In this podcast, I ask Sam to share his experiences as a leader of people and performance at Aurecon, speak with me on the subject of people leadership and explore how to:
manage diverse personalities;
have straight-up conversations;
deal with under-performers;
hold people accountable;
handle conflict and tension;
attract good talent;
off-load the wrong people;
challenge constructively;
inspire positive change;
handle career progression;
uplift individual performance;
and so much more!
I highly respect all that Sam has achieved in his professional career to date. I appreciate his authentic approach to dealing with people, managing teams and leading growth in businesses.
For me, this interview emphasises the importance of giving the people management component of our business real time, energy, thought, care and attention.
His quiet passion for business and teams speaks for itself, and I am delighted to welcome Sam into our business as General Manager. We are in safe hands, and our future is bright.
Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you Sam Johnsson.
Keep on leading!JeremyPS: Heard me speak about DISC Personality Profiling in this episode and want to learn more about individual Personality Type and Behavioural Traits? Click here to listen to Episode 67!
PPS: Did you enjoy this topic? I encourage you to listen to Episode 57 with James Kelly on Aligning Elite Teams – click here!PPPS: We’d love your ideas and introductions for future Podcast interviews - share your suggestions with us by clicking here!PPPPS: Please share this with others in our industry and give us a review on Facebook or Google… and thank you for helping us share stories like these more broadly.
Wednesday Jun 30, 2021
Wednesday Jun 30, 2021
For me, Farm Owners Academy is a strong example of good business practice, well-applied.We are seven years old and have enjoyed significant growth year on year. We are an expanding team, all well-aligned to a common goal and cause. We deliver results, adding real and lasting value to the lives of those we serve.I am immensely proud to be part of this team and community. I am also very pleased that we are congruent; we practice what we preach. Farm Owners Academy and the Profitable Farmer Podcast succeed because we apply the very business principles we teach - impeccably and with real intent. For this, I thank the WHOLE FOA team.In this podcast, I ask that you humour me as I:
reflect on our growth and our results, particularly over the last 18-months;
share key elements of our strategic plan - our new vision and roadmap and explain how it sets the foundations now for further growth and expansion;
explore an important construct about ‘How to Avoid The Business Price Trap’, and
outline the steps you can take (that we have taken) to ensure your business model is set to (potentially) not compete on price!
I feel proud and humbled to have led this podcast series over the last 18-months, exploring so many important business principles and interviewing so many incredible leaders and legends of their respective fields.I share the FOA story not to boast or show-off, but in the hope that this inspires you to take action and dedicate the necessary time to creating a compelling and unique Vision and Strategic Plan for your business and family; as we have for ours.Finally, I officially welcome our new General Manager in Sam Johnsson to FOA and our new Board of Advisors. I cannot wait to see where this new and expanded leadership team can take us.Thank you for listening and for being part of this project and our community.Sincerely,JeremyPS: We’d love your ideas and introductions for future Podcast interviews - share your suggestions with us by clicking here!PPS: Please share this with others in our industry and beyond. We'd also be grateful for your reviews on either Facebook or Google …thank you!
Tuesday Jun 15, 2021
Tuesday Jun 15, 2021
It is rare to meet true game changers and genuine leaders of Commerce & Industry, let alone get to interview two!In this episode, we meet Gaethan Cutri and Salah Sukkarieh - both pioneers in their own right.Salah Sukkarieh is the Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the University of Sydney and CEO of Agerris, a new Agtech startup company from the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, developing autonomous robotic solutions to improve agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability. Salah is an international expert in the research, development and commercialisation of field robotic systems and has led a number of robotics and intelligent systems R&D projects in logistics, commercial aviation, aerospace, education, environment monitoring, agriculture and mining. More detail here: The University of Sydney - Salah SukkariehGaethan Cutri is Owner and Managing Director at Cutri Fruits. Under his leadership, and over the past 15 years, Cutri Farms has increased its fruit production and operating scale near ten-fold, expanded its reach globally, and has pioneered the application of intelligent systems and robotics in intensive agriculture. Cutri Farms is now the largest stone fruit producer in Australia, a respected global player, and has the vision of being the first fully automated stone fruit business in the world. More detail here: https://www.cutrifruit.com.auI have been looking forward to this interview for a long time! I am delighted to introduce both Gaethan and Salah, two very humble and unassuming Ag Tech champions, to Profitable Farmer and to you all.In this episode we explore:
where Ag Tech, open air robotics, and on-farm automation has arrived to over the last 10 years
the current advancements most impacting our industry
what we can expect in technological advancement on-farm over the next 10 years
what is required to make it a commercial reality; and (perhaps)
how we each need to change our mindset and perspective in order to embrace the incredible change that awaits us.
Importantly, we get to hear how these two great, passionate, pioneering individuals have come together to apply the latest Ag Tech advancements to Cutri Fruit, and the undeniable impact this is having on driving performance, efficiency, quality, cost-saving and growth in that incredible Australian business.This is a cracker! I hope you enjoy it.Here's to an amazing future in Australian farming.Thank you.JeremyPS: Interested to make a shift and want to learn how to create freedom in your business? Join Take Control 2.0 Program Now. Click here!PPS: Please share this with others in our industry and give us a review on Facebook or Google … and thank you for helping us share stories like these more broadly.
Sunday May 30, 2021
Sunday May 30, 2021
It gives me great pleasure to welcome Andrew Roberts ‘Robbo’ back to the Profitable Farmer podcast.Not only is Robbo one of the founders of Farm Owners Academy and the previous host of this Podcast, but he has also been my Business Coach and great friend for over 15 years. It is always compelling to catch up with Robbo and ‘shoot the breeze’.In this conversation, we explore the definition of a successful business, the construct of being FREE from your business – having it resourced and set up so that it can work without you! This is ultimately what investors are looking for, and this is, in my opinion, the ultimate legacy we can pass on to future generations.Importantly, we explore what needs to happen both in business and on farms in order to move in this direction. We touch on the strategy, systems, structures and resources required to get there, and we explain the set path to follow to make this a reality.We also discuss the MINDSET and IDENTITY SHIFT needed to move from being a busy technical farmer to a Freedom Farmer and the CEO of a growing farm business. This shift starts with a clear intention and a strong goal and then requires a change in mindset, beliefs and focus.I am proud that Robbo has enjoyed 12 months free from business, entirely focused on all things freedom and family. I am also proud that Farm Owners Academy exists to help farming families achieve the same.Robbo, as always, it was great to connect and incredible to have you back on Profitable Farmer and the FOA Freedom Farmer Movement.Thank you.JeremyPS: Interested to make a shift and want to learn how to create freedom in your business? Join Take Control 2.0 Program Now. Click here!PPS: Please share this with others in our industry and give us a review on Facebook or Google … and thank you for helping us share stories like these more broadly.