Small steps make big gains – The Western Producer
YORKTON, Sask. — Evan Shout encourages young farmers to think big while making small improvements.
The president of Maverick Ag, chief financial officer at Hebert Grain Ventures and coach at Farmer Coach is a proponent of the five-percent rule, in which farmers increase yields and decrease expenses by that percentage.
American agricultural economist Danny Klinefelter has long promoted the rule. He found that the top 25 percent of farmers are only five percent better than the rest. And taking steps to make improvements of five percent, or cut costs by five percent, add up to big money.
Speaking to a full room at the Farm Credit Canada Young Farmer Summit, Shout used an example of hard red spring wheat at a price of $8 per bushel to illustrate how it works.
