Profitable Farmer

What if living longer had less to do with finding the perfect diet, supplement or exercise program… and more to do with how we live, what we believe and who we surround ourselves with?

In this episode, I’m joined by the incredible Marcus Pearce, a longevity strategist, speaker, author and host of 100 Not Out.

Marcus recently joined us at our FOA Deep Dive Workshop, and I was struck again by the way he challenges so many of the assumptions we carry around health, ageing and what it means to live a genuinely exceptional life.

We explore:

Why purpose, physical activity and social connection are some of the strongest foundations for a long, high-quality life.

What decades of interviewing centenarians and “exceptionals” have taught him about living well.

The importance of protecting the parts of life that farming can easily crowd out such as health, friendships, family, fun and time away from the business.

Marcus’ Exceptional Life Quiz, and why making your lowest-scoring area your highest priority can be a powerful place to start. Take the quiz here

One of the biggest reminders from this conversation is that we often assume there will always be more time.

More time to get fitter. More time to see our mates. More time to take the trip. More time to slow down and enjoy what we’ve built.

But none of us really knows how much time we have.

Make the important things urgent.

Call that mate you haven’t spoken to for some time. Book that fishing trip. Make small steps to look after your personal health as a priority. Have dinner at the dining table. Tell those you care about you love them. Create something outside the farm that lights you up.

And keep building a business that supports the life you want, rather than a life that exists purely to support the business you have.

Marcus, thank you. I appreciate you positively re-framing the importance of longevity for us: it’s not about how long we can stay alive… but how strong, connected, purposeful and alive we can be, as we age.

Here’s to living and farming well.

Keep being incredible!

Hutch & The Farm Owners Academy Team

P.S. Marcus’ message is a great reminder that living well for longer isn’t just about health. It’s about having the freedom, energy and headspace to enjoy the life you’re building. If you’re running a farm and want more freedom, more control and more space to enjoy life beyond the farm, the TOP Producers Workshop is a great place to start. Find out more here.

Uncertainty Is the Only Certainty: Building Resilience with Psychologist Maria Ruberto

Two hundred episodes in, and the thread running through nearly all of them is this: the numbers matter, but what's going on in our heads and hearts is what determines whether we thrive or just survive.

So for this milestone, I wanted to talk human emotions properly, starting with the one none of us can avoid.

Uncertainty is almost the only certainty we've got as farmers. But it isn't a sign that something's wrong with you. It's a normal state your brain moves into when it can't predict what happens next, and once you understand that, you can move through it with a lot more strength.

That's exactly what we dig into today with psychologist Maria Ruberto.

Maria Ruberto is a psychologist, certified applied Neuropsychotherapist and Founder of Salutegenics. With more than 30 years of experience across education, clinical practice, leadership and workplace wellbeing, Maria delivers science-backed training programs that help individuals, teams and organisations build resilience and strengthen their ability to support the wellbeing of others. Her approach focuses on understanding the powerful connection between biology, psychology and behaviour.

In this Learning from Legends episode, we reconnect with Maria, who has previously presented to our FOA alumni and joined us on the podcast before, to unpack a topic every farmer knows intimately: uncertainty, and how we manage our exposure to it.

We explore:

Why uncertainty is a normal, biological state rather than a personal failing, and what happens in the brain the moment it can't predict what's coming next

The truth about stress: why it's not the enemy, how it enables us to perform, and the point where sustained pressure tips into burnout

Simple, science-backed ways to reset in under two minutes, including a slow out-breath technique and a head-turn technique that calms the nervous system

Why connection with others isn't a nice-to-have but a biological imperative, and how the right people around us create real protection during hard times

Five practical strategies for building our tolerance to uncertainty and distress, including agency mapping (what we can control, influence, and must let go of).

 

To connect with Maria, reach out directly at admin@salutegenics.com.au.

Maria, thank you for the generosity of your time and for the clarity you bring to something so many of us feel but rarely have the language for.

It was wonderful reflecting on how the mind works under pressure, and even better knowing there are real, practical tools we can put to work on-farm.

Until next time, keep being incredible.

Hutch & The Farm Owners Academy Team

P.S. Scaling well takes energy, and burnout has a way of undoing all of it. If you're feeling the weight of workload, weather, or finances lately, grab our free Low Stress Farmer's Handbook to check where you sit on the burnout scale and pick up some practical strategies for building resilience. Download here.

AI is moving fast — incredibly fast — and whether we like it or not, the game has changed. 

In this week’s episode, I sit down with Sam Johnsson, CEO of Farm Owners Academy. Sam, along with Michaela, Greg, and the broader FOA team, has been doing outstanding work in this space, not just exploring what AI can do, but figuring out how we can use it practically to build better businesses and better outcomes for farm owners. 

We unpack what AI really means for agriculture and why I believe the opportunity in front of us is enormous. 

From using ChatGPT or Claude as a smarter research partner, through to analysing data, improving decision-making, building systems, automating repetitive work and even capturing 40 years of knowledge from inside a farmer’s head, the capability is extraordinary. 

But we also talk about the other side of it: security, accuracy, the risk of AI being “confidently wrong”, and why good judgement, trusted advisers and knowing what good looks like still matter enormously. 

Sam also shares a really useful framework for understanding where you are on the AI journey, and, more importantly, how to take the next step without feeling like you need to become a technology expert overnight. 

My encouragement is simple: don’t sit on the sidelines. 

Get curious. Have a play. Start small. Because this technology is going to touch almost every part of business and life, and I think those who learn to use it well will have an extraordinary advantage. 

I really enjoyed this conversation with Sam, and I hope it gives you the confidence and a few practical ideas to start putting AI to work in your business. 

Keep winning! 

Hutch & The Farm Owners Academy Team 

P.S. If this episode has you thinking it's time to get more out of AI in your farm business, Sam is running a 90-minute live workshop on 21 & 22 October. You’ll learn how to spot the work where AI can create genuine leverage, then set it up with the context, standards and guardrails it needs to do that work properly in your operation. See the workshop and register here.

There is a question every farming family should be able to answer with confidence:

How well is our farm business actually performing — and what is it truly capable of?

Not just whether there’s cash in the bank. Not whether we’ve had a good season. And not whether we’re doing things a bit better than they’ve always been done.

I mean really understanding the strength of the business model underneath it all.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been lucky enough to spend time on-farm with a number of our members, sitting around kitchen tables, driving around properties and getting deep into the numbers behind their businesses. And one exercise in particular has created some incredibly valuable conversations.

It’s about reverse engineering the potential of the farm.

In this episode, I want to take you through that same exercise, and I unpack some of the key numbers I use to stress test a farm business:

Return on assets managed

Net Profit as a percentage of income

Appropriate levels of gearing

Labour investment

Interest cover

I then use these to ask a much bigger question:

Given the assets you have access to today, what level of income and profit should your business be capable of producing?

Because for many farming families, the opportunity isn’t necessarily about buying the farm next door. It may be about getting far more from the farm you already have.

I uncover why scale should be measured in revenue, not hectares, and the three ways you can build it: through simplification, intensification and, only then, expansion.

I also consider the idea of getting a balance between business model, scale and gearing — and why getting those three things working together can completely change the financial strength of your farming business.

This isn’t about chasing numbers for the sake of numbers. And it certainly isn’t about suggesting there’s one perfect enterprise or one perfect way to farm.

It’s about knowing what good looks like.

It’s about giving yourself and your family a clear set of targets, understanding the gap between where you are today and where the business could be, and then asking better questions about how you close that gap.

So grab a pen and a piece of paper for this one.

Work through the numbers for your own farm as we go, challenge a few assumptions, and perhaps uncover some of the latent income and profit sitting inside the business you already have - and if you'd like to go a bit deeper with your numbers & analysis, head to our website and grab your free copy of "The Profitable Farming Playbook" which will help you track the key targets that lead to stronger decisions, better profit, and long-term success.

Because sometimes the greatest opportunity isn’t more land.

It’s a stronger business model on the land you’re already farming.

Keep winning!

Hutch & The FOA Team

 

P.S. Knowing your numbers gives you a much clearer picture of what your farm business is capable of. If you want to go deeper, you can access our CFO Program for just $97 using promotional code PODCFO97 at checkout (usually $197) or book a Complimentary Coaching Call with our team to talk through your business and where you can improve performance.

Pat Barrett has spent nearly twenty years at Walsh & Blair, and before that he was playing regional rugby for the Wagga Waratahs, learning lessons about mateship, discipline, and common goals that he still leans on today when he sits across the table from farming families trying to navigate succession.

In this episode, I sit down with Pat, director at Walsh & Blair and one of the most respected rural lawyers in the Riverina, to talk about what actually makes succession work. And what quietly wrecks it.

We started with rugby, and the idea that not knowing the rules can get you hurt. So often we throw the next generation into farming with no rules, no structure, and no shared understanding of what success even looks like. Pat's seen that play out again and again, and had some really practical thinking on how to fix it.

Here's what we got into:

What happens when everyone in a family business is carrying a different version of the common goal, and why that's the difference between touch footy on the beach and playing for real

The three stages of a proper transition: management, business, and land, and why trying to do all three at once is where things get messy and emotional

Why bringing your accountant, banker, consultant, and lawyer into the same room beats passing messages between them like a game of Chinese whispers

Why paying family members a market wage builds accountability instead of entitlement

Pat's a straight shooter, and what got me thinking was his point about timing. He reckons the older generation has a window early on, while it's still exciting and before any history's built up, to get things agreed on properly. His advice to the next generation was the mirror image of that. It might feel awkward going in, but as Pat says it's "a lot more awkward later on down the track" if you don't.

If you're the older generation holding on a bit too long, or the next generation wondering what you've actually agreed to, this one's worth your full attention.

👉 You can learn more about Pat and the team at Walsh & Blair at www.walshblair.com.au

A huge thanks to Pat for his time and his candour, and for the impact he and his firm have had on hundreds of farming families across the Riverina and beyond.

Here's to getting the agreements right, before you need them.

Hutch & The Farm Owners Academy Team