Summary - Farm Coaching helped mid to late
career farmers and farm teams in Maine to meet challenges
involving communication and personal well-being, including talking about and
planning for personal finances.This project addressed sustainability in farm families and
farm teams, leadership development for farm managers, labor management,
financial literacy and record keeping.
Audience - We reached the desired audience through intentional promotion and careful screening during intake calls. Farmers in mid to late career signed up for farm coaching and workshops about personal financial health.
Delivery - We created 5 videos to be used in workshops and coaching, they were very effective in live settings to use for discussion and information sharing. Three workshops were offered
on “Communicating about Personal Money Values and Personal Money Goals” using the videos. Workshops resulted in farmers understanding their own needs and challenges in
discussing personal financial topics. Farms in transition (5/8 farms) developed goals with personal financial implications.
Outcomes - We met goals for coaching (8 farms; 20 people) and had good workshop numbers (56 people), although fewer than proposed. For workshops, we intended to reach farmers in the winter and this past winter there were multiple storms, as well as a statewide emergency around PFAS contamination on farms. We rescheduled some workshops to online, and participants gained knowledge and set personal financial goals.
Overall results: Coaching was effective: 100% of participants would recommend the program to others, 78% had more confidence to handle future stress/conflict, 89% of coached farms in mid-career learned effective communication methods, 100% described improvement in communication with both farm and business partners, saw progress in their goals as a result of coaching, 89% reported improvement in clarifying roles and giving feedback, and were more confident in accessing resources they might need.
We anticipate using the resources in future workshops and coaching sessions.