Elaine Froese

"Did you know experts say over the next 10 years, 75% of farms will change hands, yet only 8% of Canada's farmers have written a transition plan? Well, that's my superpower."

-Elaine Froese

Elaine Froese (pronounced 'phrase'), CSP is a certified professional speaker, certified coach, and accomplished five-time author. She's your go-to expert for farm families who want better communication and conflict resolution to secure a successful farm transition.

For over 40 years, Elaine Froese aka "Canada's Farm Whisperer" has been on a mission to guide farm families, across North America, to get unstuck, communicate better, and find harmony through understanding as they seek to find ways to work together to secure a profitable legacy for the next generation.

As a highly accredited, professional public speaker, Elaine Froese is passionate about sharing simple, practical, and actionable tools with farm families so they can talk about tough issues and get traction in their farm transition. And as a farmer herself, and mother to the successor of her family farm, Elaine understands the culture of agriculture like the back of her hand.

Most families know they need to talk about tough issues; they just don't know HOW or where to get started. Elaine's topics are a catalyst to courageous conversations and conflict resolution. Expect her to WOW your audience by bringing clarity with workable and practical tools that will give your audience the strategies they need to improve communication within their farm family. She'll help audit key challenges. The audience will learn how to deal with resistance and listen to their head, heart, and gut. They will gain insight into tough succession issues to have life-changing conversations – finally!

Want to learn how to have courageous conversations and create certainty for the future? Elaine has so much to bring to the farm family table. She will break down assumptions, have robust respectful family meetings, and uncover the expectations of ALL family members for the succession or transition of the farm.

A seasoned expert in quickly mapping out the family dynamic and identifying the key challenges that need to be unpacked Elaine's unique specialty is discussing what she calls the Undiscussabull™ – the bull in the middle of the farm family that no one wants to talk about. The end goal is for everyone to be rich in relationships.

For over 25 years, Elaine Froese has captivated 50,000+ readers and influenced over 9 million people. She is known as the go-to expert on farm family transitions and dynamics.

Her books Do the Tough Things Right,award-winning Planting the Seed of Hope, Building Your Farm Legacy and Farm Family Coach Insights have made Elaine a household name in family farm succession strategy and are a collection of insights and practical tools to help farm families and their advisors communicate better, plan their succession, and secure their legacy.

She co-authored Farming's In-Law Factor to give families relevant ways to be clear about the roles and dynamics of the in-laws. And for farmers who don't have time to read, they can order her audiobook "Building Your Farm Legacy."

Accolades & Awards:

Elaine holds a degree from the University of Manitoba, certificates from Mediation Services, and the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara. She is a regular columnist with Grainews ( 27 years and counting ) and Progressive Dairy.

To Elaine's Credit:

• 40+ years of professional speaking
• 6+ years as a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional)
• 40+ years of working with farm families
• 40 years as a farm partner in SW Manitoba (5th generation farm owner)
• 17+ years of certified coaching (certified by the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara)
• Certificate in Conflict Resolution and Mediation
• Coached over 1000 farm families
• A member of CAFA (Canadian Association of Farm Advisors)
• 25+ years as Grainews Columnist
• Award-winning author, written 5 books
• 2018 Wilson Loree Excellence in Farm Management award
• 2018 4-H Canada Most Distinguished Alumna (inaugural, one of 350,000 alumni)
• 2020 Manitoba 150 Women Trailblazers award recipient
• 2021 Certificate of Merit from the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences at the University of Manitoba

Elaine's Most Popular Speaking Topics:

1. Finding Fairness in Farm Transition - How to manage your farm family's expectations about inheritance

How does a family define fairness? Is it helping everyone be successful or is it helping the farm be successful after the farm transition?

Fairness keeps founders awake at night. Fairness means different things to different farm team members and the non-farming heirs. Elaine tackles the challenges most families face when trying to be FAIR during the farm transition.

The audience will receive the FAIR (Financial transparency, Attitudes, Intentions, Rebels) model:

• Understand the need to unpack financial transparency and the tools to do it (income streams, debt servicing, viability of the farm)
• Navigate attitudes towards money by encouraging families to have clarifying conversations about inheritance expectations
• Share an easy-to-use framework that will enable farm families to create clear intentions about how important decisions are made
• Get insights on what to do with the rebels who are never satisfied as founders shift roles

A farm is not a piece of pie. In today's agricultural reality, farm families cannot make all of their children economically equal. Equality is no longer part of the transition language.
Elaine's presentation will give you a new language to manage expectations and navigate finding fairness in farm transition so that everyone will be successful.

As one farmer said, "this session gives me the confidence in what I have to go through."

2. Discuss the Undiscussabull (™) - Tools for talking about tough issues in life... and farm transfer!

Many farmers ask Elaine "How can we get folks to the table to talk?" Often the conflict and high tension around the uncertainty of the future of the farm is keeping people tense and unsure of how to start courageous conversations.

Yet, it's the conversations that will give breakthroughs – once you deal with the "bull" in the middle of the room.

A Virginia Tech study of 400 farms found that those farm family businesses that communicate were 21% more profitable. Therefore, talking and creating solutions can make you money!

This session goes over the Discuss the Undiscussabull™ Approach that provides 10 practical steps to start crucial conversations for transition and conflict resolution:

• Take charge
• Come from curiosity
• Ask deeply
• Play with possibility
• Really listen
• Ponder and perk
• Cultivate trust
• Come to terms with death
• Extend the olive branch
• Respect boundaries

Conflict is a normal part of farm family business, especially when 2 or 3 generations are trying to figure out a plan that meets their needs. Elaine sees conflict resolution as a "business risk management strategy" and something that anyone can learn to do well.

Elaine's tools give your audience the strategies they need to improve communication within their farm family. She'll help audit key challenges. The audience will learn how to deal with resistance and listen to their head, heart, and gut. They will gain insight into tough succession issues to have life-changing conversations – finally!

If you want your audience to learn how to have courageous conversations and create the certainty for the future that they are longing for this talk checks all the boxes!

3. Living an Intentional Life - How to embrace change on your farm with the cycle of renewal

Farmers love farming and they never plan to quit. Their spouses, however, have other ideas!

They are both in different stages of the cycle of renewal but don't know it. Their adult children want you to move to town. What are they going to do? Nothing? That doesn't feel very good!

Elaine's insights will help audiences locate their current stage on the cycle of renewal map. She will provide action steps they need to take in order to live the life they've always wanted.

This session helps farmers identify the following:

• What they need to let go of
• What they need to hold on to
• What they need to take on and move on
• How to create action steps for aligning with their goals, getting ready for the next chapter of their life, sorting out what's not working, and taking time to renew themselves
• How to question their many roles in agriculture and choose to live more intentionally with their personal role map

The tools Elaine is using in this talk are based on the research of the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara, where she trained as a certified coach and has been specifically crafted for farmers who are stuck and need to make some life changes as well as women in agriculture who are feeling stressed, overwhelmed and need to let go of what's not working.

Give your audience the gift of living more intentionally today.

4. Farming's In-Law Factor - How to have more harmony and less conflict on family farms

It takes courage to admit that everything behind the front door of your farm is not as beautiful as you would like it to be.

Elaine Froese is gifted at talking about the marriage stresses on farms that fuel the fear of divorce. She truly believes that love and respect are key to strong marriages, partnerships, and relationship capital on the farm.

This session is eye-opening and comforting when your audience discovers that they are not alone. Their 'good' farm team can become 'great' with better conflict resolution skills and more role clarity.

This session will help with the following:

• Farm dads to understand how to build respect, trust, and ask for what they need
• Farm moms, mothers-in-law, and daughters-in-law to be seen, have a voice, and stop being the "pig in the middle" of the conflict triangle
• Farm successors to stand up for what is right and seek common ground
• Farm sons and daughters-in-law to understand family of origin conflict styles and communication
• Navigate new language and approaches for positive conflict behaviour
• Provide tools for profitable family business meetings while sitting with deep emotions
• Outline the key ways to prevent divorce on farms for the young folks as well as the founders

If you want to empower your audience and give them something they really need – not want – this presentation will be "the talk" of your event.

Partial Client List:

• 2022 South Dakota Farm Bureau and Wyoming Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference
• 2022 Compeer Groundbreaker's Conference in Wisconsin and Minnesota
• 2022 The Maize Corn Party Conference Indianapolis
• 2022 LARA Research Council Alberta Virtual Event
• 2022 Grand Valley Young Farmers Virtual Event
• 2022 Portage District Chamber of Commerce Ag Excellence Awards Night
• 2022 Ranchers Stewardship Alliance Montana Workshops
• 2022 Cooperators Insurance Advisors Training
• 2021 Advocis Financial Planners Training
• 2021 Global Ag Risk Solutions Advisors Training
• 2021 BC Pacific Ag Show Keynote
• 2020 NB Potatoes Keynote
• 2020 Lloydminster Coop Transition Workshop
• 2019 Manitoba Egg Farmers
• 2019 Manitoba Chicken Farmers
• 2019 US Farm Credit
• 2014 World Holstein Symposium Toronto 2012, 43 countries.

What farm families are saying about Elaine:

"A joy to work with, heard loud and clear. When the farmers laughed or asked a great question, I knew they were listening and really wanted to learn from her. Her tips were easy to understand. It was just about understanding that conflict happens, and to have the confidence in yourself to ask for what you want. In the glowing review from farmers after her presentation, I knew they had heard that loud and clear."

Maddy Berner, Event Planner & Communications Coordinator,
National Milk Producers Federation

"I wanted to say a HUGE thank you for your virtual kitchen table chat with Arlan Academy. My wife and I signed up as it was exceptionally relevant to our current journey with potentially transitioning to her parent's farm. The session was able to cover so many aspects of these crucial conversations and hearing you speak to both sides of the conversation was eye-opening for my own perspective on this topic. It seemed to be very well attended and sounded like there were many other people who would echo my thoughts and feelings on it."

N. Oakley, Farmer, Ontario

"Elaine helped me allocate $1 Million of assets the night I listened to her. Elaine's presentation brings value to the use of my services in my office."

Don Forbes, Forbes Wealth Management

"I recently joined in and listened to your Healthy Farmer Agriwebinar for FMC. I truly enjoyed hearing your perspective and even went and grabbed my Mom, away from her work, to come and listen in on some of your main points as well! One area that really stood out for me, both personally with our own succession plans and with our clients, was your discussion involving "Instant Influence" and how ready are you to change? I loved this concept!"

Annessa Good, FCC Transition Specialist, Alberta

"Elaine Froese truly is the Farm Whisperer. With her big heart and stern resolve, she guides families through uncharted waters and helps them arrive safely at their desired destination. She has been there, done that, and has helped hundreds of families come out on the other side. With your family and your farm legacy on the line, you owe it to yourself to start this conversation. You do not need to do it alone. Let Elaine Froese guide you through. Your legacy is being written day by day. How will you be remembered?"

Tracy Brunet, Host of The Impact Farming Show & CEO of Farm Marketer

"You speak like you've been sitting at our kitchen table! You know our family issues well. I am feeling more comfortable understanding what we now need to do. Elaine Froese is real."

Audience Member

"I attended the meeting you spoke at in Stratford Ontario recently. We held an emergency family/farm meeting today because of issues that I had enough of. We used a 'talking stick' like you recommended and wrote a chart of rules. The rest of the family thought the idea that we needed a meeting was worth rolling their eyes over until we got started. The younger ones were quick to clue in that they now have an opportunity to be bluntly honest. The older ones took a bit longer to believe they could truly say what they think. In the end, the meeting needed two sessions because there was so much to talk about... and so many things people didn't realize were a big deal to the others. Your lessons and encouragement have given us the tools we need to get to a better place in our relationships and our business. Truly thankful."

Kim Martin, Dairy Farmer, Ontario

"Listening to you speak and having the opportunity to chat with you one on one has given me a boost to know that I have value to add to farms. When in sales there is a perception that we are just there to sell the farm something. You and I are aligned as I truly believe that I am at the farm kitchen table to add value to their operation and their farm family. I will start to use your questions "What is the most important thing we can talk about today?" and "Of all the things we have talked about today, what are the most valuable to you?" in all of my meetings to make sure that I am serving these farm clients to the best of my ability."

Karen Murray, BA, CCA, Sales Associate

"Thanks so much for giving such great training. We had many compliments on how excellent and practical the information was."

Bryan Moes, SD YFR Chair

A Message of Hope:

"When I speak I want my message to be transformational for your audiences. The whole issue of fairness and more expensive land not wanting to cut up the farm like a piece of pie is keeping your growers and producers awake at night. I'm a grower too. And I've found a different mindset shift for finding fairness in farm transition to help you manage expectations around inheritance. And for your audiences to understand what steps that takes. Things like financial transparency, everybody knowing the viability of the farm, attitudes towards money, and a true, realistic financial picture. Help me help you empower your audiences by bringing them a message of hope that they truly want to hear."

– Elaine Froese

Working With Elaine:

"Where were you 10 years ago?"

Like her farm audiences, Elaine Froese is on a journey of succession. Many folks who hear her presentations think "she's been a fly on their wall", and they often say, "Where were you 10 years ago? How come I've never heard you speak before?"

Farmers are hard-working, loyal, conflict-avoidant, and sometimes stubborn people. They care deeply, shoot from the hip, give more than they take, and often wonder what the future will look like. Elaine's philosophy is that it's never too late to grab the bull by the horns and make changes in the farm family business.

The challenges that most farmers face are:

• Family conflict
• Lack of communication and understanding
• Female voice not heard (let's not even talk about in-laws)
• Different needs and expectations of multiple generations
• Giving up control and defining new roles
• Lack of trust in the next generation
• Not having a clear transition plan – the pain of 'not knowing'

If you're organizing an event and looking for a speaker who's real, relevant, and transformational, Elaine and her speaking topics may just be the right fit for you.

Elaine is easy to work with, a great listener, and on a mission to help farm families be rich in relationships and find harmony through understanding.

"Elaine's real-life scenarios help her audiences know they are not alone, knowing there are creative solutions to help them get the life on the farm they have always wanted."

-Audience Member