32 The Business of Prairie Agriculture Better Farming | November/December 2024 UP CLOSE Our 2011 was awful. We only seeded a quarter of the crop. We should have parked the drills and given up, but we just don’t operate that way. That was early in my farming career. I was working off-farm at the time but was pretty involved, and it was very discouraging. In 2019, it was beautiful up until harvest, and then it started raining on the first day of pea harvest. That was the first year that we could not finish harvest before winter, no matter what we did. I broke my ankle that June and spent most of harvest in a walking boot as well, to add to the misery. What keeps you up at night? Not a lot because by the time my head hits the pillow, I’m usually pretty tired. Usually, it will be things I can’t control. The geopolitical landscape in this country is scary when everyone thinks we are trying to kill them with glyphosate and fertilizer. We obviously don’t wake up in the morning and say, ‘How much diesel can I burn today?’ We are doing our best to be stewards of the land and produce a safe crop every year. It seems that every time we turn around, there’s a roadblock or someone trying to take away a very important tool that we need to do our jobs. What do you do in your time off? Our family has gotten the modified truck and tractor pull bug the past few years and we have been doing that around the Prairies. Boards and meetings also take up a lot of time. I really enjoy playing sports. I curl in the winter, I played hockey up until I broke my leg, and I play ball in the summer. I also have seven, soon to be eight, nieces and nephews under age nine so I enjoy spending time with them. I also try to get away on at least one trip a year that doesn’t involve a farm show or meeting. Tips for working with family? It’s never perfect but communication is really important. It’s helpful to have defined roles, and we do a lot of succession and strategy planning and try to revisit these plans as much as we can. We have frequent meetings and try to keep lines of communication open with the entire family so everyone has an idea of what’s happening. We also try to spend time together outside of work, such as on family vacations and truck and tractor pulls. It’s always important to spend time together without actually working. Favourite piece of equipment? I learned how to spray on a Rogator with a Trimble light bar 20 years ago, but spraying was a lot less complicated then. Now I do a lot of trucking. I wouldn’t say the trucks are my favourite, but I do enjoy driving them and hauling grain. I think the combine will always be the coolest. I don't spend as much time in the cab, as I'm often in the cart or truck, but watching them in the field is a pretty majestic sight. BF Sarah enjoys driving the trucks and hauling grain. Russ Leguee photo
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