time management and farming

Time Management and Farming: Creating More Time for Living

For centuries, farmers have been the backbone of society. Without farms, there is no food. Unfortunately, there are a lot of farmers who are struggling to find satisfaction in their work. They feel like there is not enough time in the day to get everything done. Many farmers are struggling to make the venture profitable with many enterprises simply being unprofitable (Teagasc, 2021). As mentioned in FarmAid.org, the coronavirus pandemic has only made this issue worse. Why are farmers having such a difficult time making ends meet, and why does it never seem like there is enough time during the day?

Why Is There a Shortage of Time?

One of the biggest reasons why there is a shortage of time is that many dairy farms have scaled up recently. In Europe, milk quotas were removed in 2015. This opened the door for many farmers to expand their businesses. Even though this created more opportunities, overhead costs had to be scaled up as well. Farmers had to purchase or lease more land. More animals, and more equipment had to be purchased or installed. This means more animals to feed, more land to manage, and more equipment to maintain. As a result, farmers must work a lot of extra hours just to keep the farm running smoothly. This is one of the biggest reasons why farmers feel like there are never enough hours in the day.

Furthermore, there are many farming industries that are not that profitable and this is a worldwide problem. As mentioned in Time Magazine, farmers from small-town America are dealing with a debt crisis and are worried the industry could be going extinct. This has forced many farmers to get a second job. For example, they may go to work in a factory, only to come back and still have to do everything on the farm. As a result, many farmers feel like they’re stuck on a treadmill, never truly able to get off. What are some of the impacts of this situation on farmers? 

Farmers Do Not Have Enough Time for Themselves

The first impact is that farmers simply do not have enough time for themselves. Even though they are in a difficult situation, they never truly have time to sit down and think about it. They spend all of their hours working on the farm taking care of their animals, their land, and their equipment. Then, they might have to go for another job to supplement their income. This means they don’t have time to develop any hobbies, which is an important outlet for stress relief. Without this time to decompress, the stress only continues to build. If farmers do not have time for themselves, then they never have time to relax or think about the situation, brainstorming ways to make it better.

Farmers Do Not Have Enough Time for their Family Members

In addition, a lot of farmers do not have enough time for their family members and friends. Because they are so busy taking care of the farm and possibly working a second job, they often neglect the ones they love. They might not spend time with their spouses, their children, their family members, or their friends. This can lead to a significant strain on key personal relationships, which can often make the situation worse. If these relationships are allowed to deteriorate, this can add more stress to an already difficult situation.

Farmers Are Losing Fulfillment in Their Work

As a result of all of these circumstances, many farmers have lost fulfillment in their work. In the past, farmers always took pride in what they did. They took care of their animals, provided for their families, and supported the rest of the country.

Now, there are many farmers who are working constantly for little financial payback. When this is combined with stress from other areas of their life, many farmers are wondering if it is worth it anymore. How can they generate more money? Would it be better to sell the farm, which might have been in the family for generations? If they do this, then what’s next?

Fortunately, there is a solution.

Improve Farming Time Management Skills

It is critical for farmers to find ways to improve their time management skills. That way, they can find more fulfillment in their work. A few tips include:

  • Always pencil in time to spend with the important people in your life. This includes family members and friends. Make sure to protect this time. Schedule all other obligations around this.
  • Schedule time for at least one hobby every week. This is important personal time that gives farmers a chance to destress.
  • Instead of doing everything on the farm every day, identify the three most important things. Do those today.

This will create a sense of fulfillment and achievement. Even if everything did not get done, the important tasks were completed. This can bring a sense of satisfaction back to farming.

When farmers do this, they are forced to prioritize the activities on the farm. They may realize they are spending time on some areas that are simply not profitable. Farmers might be able to scale back unprofitable activities while exploring ways to generate more income. For example, there may be incentives from the government or the EU to address environmental issues. These could actually generate additional income and may even help reduce the workload at the same time.

Even though farmers feel like there is not enough time during the day, there are ways to improve time management. Remember to reach out to professionals to learn more about time management skills.

drystock farming

Case Study – Dry Stock Farmer

How to get the most from farming without letting it destroy your life: Part 5

In the final part of this series, I will look at a part time drystock farmer to see how he might use the process outlined to help him find a solution, enabling him to enjoy life.

Case Study 2: Drystock farmer with off farm work

I spoke with John, who runs a cattle and sheep farm in the west of Ireland.  He is married to Sarah.  They have 5 children from 8 yrs. to 21yrs.  The farm fits into what Teagasc describes as “sustainable”.  The farm income is supported by off farm employment.  

John tells me he finds the going very tough.  He works five days per week off the farm with a half hour drive to and from work morning and evening.  When he gets home from a day’s work, he usually must face several hours further work on the farm.  This could take the form of feeding livestock in winter, calving cows or lambing ewes in spring or harvesting fodder in summer.  He also mentioned that he gets caught from time to time for interest on merchant credit, simply because he forgets to pay some bills on time.  Effectively he is neglecting his “routine responsibilities” which costs him extra money and causes him stress when this happens.  

John says Sarah does not understand why he spends so many hours on the farm for so little financial return.  Sarah stayed at home to look after the children while they were young.  She is now thinking of returning to work part time.  However, she is worried about the younger children and is frustrated with John as he rarely seems available to help out with the family.

While John loved farming all his life, he is now losing interest.  He is just doing the work to get it done.  As he was given the farm by his father, he feels he must take care of it before passing it on to the next generation.  He wonders if he would have been better off if he never inherited the farm.  

5 Essential Steps

Now, let us consider how John and Sarah might go about solving the issues that are causing them concern.  

Step 1. To begin with, it is essential to look at the seven areas of life.  We can see that John is concerned about a number of areas.  He and Sarah need to go through each of these one by one to further clarify what the problem is.  While all areas will need to be addressed over time, some will need more urgent attention.  These should be prioritised.  As they clarify the problem, they can then begin to visualise what the end result will look like once a solution is found (begin with the end in mind).  This is the first step on the journey to their solution.  

It is clear that John is concerned about not spending time with his wife.  He feels their relationship is coming under stress.  He says he needs to do something to address this situation.  He realises he spends too much time either working in his off-farm work or engaged in farming activities.  He knows his work life is dominating everything.  Furthermore, he knows he has no time for recreation and while he feels he is currently in good health he does nothing specific to take care of his health.  Due to being very busy, he regularly forgets to pay bills on time, which ultimately leads to an increase in his stress levels.  

We can see that all of the areas that are causing worry and stress are interrelated.  However, by taking a few small steps, he should be able to improve a few areas of his life.  John and Sarah might decide that spending time together and reducing the workload will be the two big priorities initially.  

Step 2. Secondly, they need to break this down into manageable goals. They need to identify what are the specific actions they can take to move in the right direction. 

Step 3. They then need to identify options.  For example, John needs to consider what are the options for reducing his workload.  There could be a whole range of options if he starts to think it through. Perhaps he could rearrange hours in his off-farm work. Maybe he is running an unprofitable enterprise that could be dropped from the farm.  There might be a way of employing someone for a few hours each week to do a labour-intensive task.  He might also consider how he could make more time available to spend with his wife, even if only for one or two evenings per week initially.

Step 4. Once options are chosen a plan of action must be put in place to ensure it happens.  

Step 5. As this plan is implemented and his goals are achieved one by one, he will gradually see some improvements in his situation.  He can then start to work on another problem.  

But first, he must decide to take some action. 

There is little doubt that farming can be a very stressful occupation. This can lead to all sorts of problems in several areas of your life.  By examining your situation, you must get clear on what problems need to be solved.  You can then follow a step-by-step process to solving that problem so that you can experience the joys of life.  Please note that help is available.  

If you can identify with the issues discussed above, call Frank now on (087)2832761 to discuss these issues further.  Further details available on www.freshpastures.ie