Coming from two different backgrounds, Cassie Eadie and her husband Andrew’s ag expertise varied drastically. Andrew grew up on the family dairy farm in Ottawa county and running an operation was second nature. However for Cassie, this was a whole new world. After beginning the transition and purchase of E-D Farms from Andrew’s parents, she knew she needed to get up to speed quickly.
For new farmers like Cassie, GreenStone’s CultivateGrowth Mentorship provides a way for industry leaders to share their lifetime of these lessons and expertise with young, beginning, and small farmers. The current 2022-2024 mentorship class which Cassie is a part of, is underway and both mentors and mentees have already benefited from the friendships formed.
Cassie joined the mentorship program to connect specifically with a female farmer who has a similar human resources role in managing employees of varying demographics and cultural differences. Cassie knew having a mentor in a similar position would help advanced her operation by getting guidance on the current operational challenges she’s facing. With her specific goals in mind, GreenStone paired Cassie with mentor Anna Link, a part-owner of Swiss Dairy Farms in Kent County that currently milks over 5,000 cows.
GreenStone’s program began with an in-person kick-off event and throughout the 18-month program, participants are expected to connect often and meet in-person at least quarterly. Pairs are encouraged to meet more often to maximize both the mentor and mentee’s program experience - something Anna and Cassie have certainly taken advantage of. The two have stayed on track by meeting right away to review Cassie’s goals and tour each other’s operation. They now meet in-person monthly and have weekly calls to connect and ensure those goals are on track.
“Anna’s been helping me with my five-year business plan, implementing HR management plans that our farm has been in need of and helping me to do ‘coaching vs. warning’ with employees,” Cassie says. “She gives me book recommendations on enterprises or how to run a profitable business and shares updates from her operation for ideas on what we could be doing.”
Since the mentorship program, Cassie has implemented a multitude of enhancements on her operation to improve efficiency and better her own leadership skills. One change Cassie focuses on is adding more coaching into her operation with her employees. If an employee has attendance issues, rather than giving them warnings prior to termination, Cassie has redirected her approach to focus on how she can better understand her customers and what might be the real problem.
“If an employee shows up late three days, why give them a written warning when instead we can work together to figure out what’s going on? There might be something personal going on and we can help coach them through that,” Cassie explains. “My goal is to help my employees be better people, along with myself through this program.”
Cassie isn’t the only one benefiting from her mentorship with Anna. As her father-in-law, Arden, continues the transition process, Anna has shared her experience in the transition their own operation previously underwent. This has helped Arden, Cassie and Andrew get on a similar page with the succession plan.
“This is really beneficial for young farmers who are going into farming, especially people like me, who married into it,” Cassie says. “It’s very different for me, I didn’t grow up in this like Anna did and just having a mentor be there to guide and listen is a huge thing!”
The next class of mentees and mentors will kick off fall 2024 but interested farmers can apply online now.
