FARM LEADERSHIP: A passion to serve and to make things better

by SUSAN MANN

But there's no doubt Wilkinson is still committed to making things better for farmers. And the passion resonates in his voice as he speaks of his belief in the value of the industry and the intense lobby effort it takes to get good policies from governments.

"I think this is just the most incredible profession," he says. "But it has been degraded within society, and it shouldn't be. There's nothing more important in this world than having wonderful, plentiful, safe food."

When you sat in commodity and general farm organization meetings during the winter months, have you ever wondered why Wilkinson and others like him take on a leadership role? Have you ever wondered how they handle their multiple responsibilities for farm, family and organization leadership? Or what it is that makes a good leader and whether good leaders born or made?

As Better Farming sought the answers to these questions, we found the stories of farm leaders, both past and present, to be remarkably similar. For example, many leaders didn't purposely seek out the top post. It was either a natural progression for them to become the president or chairman as they worked their way through various executive positions in their farm group, or they were asked to serve by farmers in the organization. Then there are farmers who don't have the title, but are still leaders because they've organized a campaign or thought of a new program and made it happen within their organization.

For his part, Wilkinson says he believes being a good farmer is only half of the equation. "It's one thing to be a good farmer. But that doesn't necessarily mean your farm industry is going to make money. There are lots of examples around the world where there are plenty of good farmers and they have a terrible industry."

That's because they have been unable to get the type of government system in place to create the social and economic environment in which the farm family can flourish, which is the OFA mission statement.

"I've always been a firm believer that government should be involved," Wilkinson explains. "If you want good programs and good policies from the government at any level, then you've got to have a strong farm organization."

The sometimes rough-talking 51-year-old leader also firmly believes in his abilities. "I have the view that this is something that I do relatively well. I consult well with people and I enjoy that kind of work and I think I'm an effective lobbyist." And as long as people think he's doing a good job, he'll always let his name stand.

Wilkinson, who spent seven years as a pilot in the Canadian Armed Forces, has held numerous top positions in farm organizations. He's served as president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, OFA vice-president, and vice-president of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP). He's been president of OFA for three years, but he won't be seeking another term there when elections are held at the annual convention later this month. Instead, he'll be working for farmers in the international arena as president of the IFAP, an organization made up of 100 farm organizations in 71 countries.

Standing up for agriculture

He was first asked to serve on the stewardship and policy west committee and didn't think he'd go any farther in the organization than that. "But then I was asked to serve on the executive and then as president."

For Bedggood, leadership is about serving and passion for the industry. That's the same for current CFFO president Jenny Denhartog, who farms near Arthur with her husband, sister-in-law and brother-in-law. They have 70,000 broilers and grow 240 acres of cash crops.

She began by being involved on the executive and then served two years as one of the two vice-presidents. It was a natural step for her to become president. "I became more involved," she says, "because I think there is a real need out there for a group like ours that is willing to stand up for the agricultural community in Ontario and that also recognizes the importance of the people and the families involved in agriculture."

The driving force for Paul Mistele, who farms in southwestern Ontario and has been involved in several local farm groups in his county, is simply to try and make things a little bit better. "And at the end of the day you've done more than just plant corn and harvest beans."

Then there's the emotional high that comes during a campaign. That was the case for Mistele, who has broilers, hogs and grain crops, during the car convoy from Windsor to Toronto down Highway 401 in March, 2001. The convoy was one of several events held as part of a "Day of Action" by farmers across Ontario to get the federal government to increase support for safety net programs. It was one of two major campaigns he's organized during the past several years. The other was a program launched in 1998 to help producers donate hogs to food banks.

At one point, the convoy was 32 kilometres long. "When you're coming along the collector lane (near Toronto) and all at once you see four or five cruisers appear on your right-hand side, and they go out across the collector and hold the traffic back so you can go through -- let me tell you, that's a rush," he says.

It seems that many farm leaders didn't purposely seek out the top job. For example, 76-year-old Gordon Hill went to his first Ontario Farmer's Union (OFU) meeting in the 1950s because he was opposed to a union for farmers. He was later elected president of the local Farmer's Union in Varna and then president of the county level of the Farmer's Union. In 1957, he won the election for president of the OFU.

At the first OFU meeting he heard the late Walter Miller who he describes as a powerful farm leader and speaker. He was impressed by Miller's passionate advocacy of a union for farmers. Hill, who served as OFA president from 1969 to 1976, said there was a lot of conflict between the OFA and the OFU. "Many of us in the Farmer's Union felt that the Federation of Agriculture had held a position of power for a long time and really hadn't worked aggressively on behalf of farmers," he says. "Over the next few years, I think a lot of farmers came to recognize that there had to be a more aggressive stance taken about the problems that farmers faced."

Then Hill was named to a committee with a past OFA president, Gordon Greer, and in rubbing shoulders with him he realized that there wasn't much difference between what he wanted and what Greer wanted for agriculture. During the late 1950s and the 1960s, attempts to try and get the two organizations to work together failed.

Then one of the recommendations in a 1968 report, entitled "Challenge of Abundance," proposed that the two farm groups should be disbanded and the best of both organizations be combined into one well-organized group that would represent Ontario farmers. A levy collected from farmers would pay for the organization. A bill enabling the organization to be created was passed in the Ontario legislature, but never proclaimed. A vote of farmers in 1969 failed.

Hill recalls that many farmers in favour of creating a new organization went home discouraged. At the OFA convention in 1969, Hill was a delegate for the Ontario Bean Producers' Marketing Board. "I was disillusioned that we hadn't made a farm organization," he says. "I decided I was simply going to run my farm and try and make a living for my family."

But at the convention there was "quite an organized effort" to get him to run for OFA president. "It was the farthest thing from my mind," he recalls. "I had not even mentioned the possibility to my wife." In fact, the first time his wife, Ruby, heard about his election was on the radio.

Learning by doing

"A lot of being involved is to make sure you're aware of what's going on and to raise your level of knowledge and understanding of things," he adds. "What better way to learn than the 4-H model -- to learn by doing."

In some families, there's a tradition of leadership. Dennis Jack's father, Murray, and his grandfather, Frank Parry, were both very involved in farm organizations. So it seemed only natural for him to get involved both in county and commodity organizations.

Brigid Pyke, who was OFA president from 1985 to 1990 and the first woman in that position, also didn't decide to seek the presidency. She first became involved in OFA at the local level and then was asked to serve on several committees. It was Jack Hale, OFA's then executive director, who in the early 1980s pushed her towards a leadership position as the Eastern Canadian women's director on the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.

"That was a real hand up in many ways, because it enabled me to see how things operated on a national basis almost before I knew how they operated provincially," she recalls.

Pyke became a provincial director and was then elected to the executive. During the elections for president in 1985, Pyke defeated an incumbent, a first in the organization's history "There was some dissatisfaction with the way the presidency had been operated and I was able to capitalize on that," she says, adding she had a lot of help from women in eastern Ontario.

Many leaders have been involved in organizations throughout their lives. For example, Will Nap, who was the chairman of Ontario Pork from 1998 to 2000, became involved in organizations in high school when he was on student council. "My whole life, I've been associated with farm organizations," he says.

In 1974, he started farming and became a councillor to the Ontario Pork board in 1976, the same year he started in pork production. He served in that position until the mid-1990s. His district needed a director and producers in the area persuaded him to run. He served as a director for three years before becoming chairman.

One thing that enable farm leaders do their jobs is having good help and a supportive family. "I'm lucky to have a wife, Julie, who makes sure those family things work," says Wilkinson, who admits his five children often get the short end of the stick.

Even so, Wilkinson still does most of the farm work on his 800-acre farm, where he grows grains and oilseeds and has a 40 to 50 cow-calf operation. Wilkinson and his neighbour farm their land together, but maintain separate businesses. That means that if they're planting wheat, for example, the person doing the planting will do it on both farms.

Leaders without titles

"As the saying goes: 'Behind every great man is a greater woman,'" Mistele adds. "There's a lot of truth to that." He has always supported farm women's organizations in Ontario because he knows the important and often silent role farm women play and the strength the rural community gets from these women.

Not all leaders come with a title. There are many people who don't have the handle of president handle but take on a leadership role to make something happen. That was the case with eastern Ontario farmer Allan Simpson, who lobbied the board of Dairy Farmers of Ontario for three years to start a program enabling individual dairy farmers to donate milk to food banks.

Simpson and his wife, Mary Helen, no longer milk cows but still grow corn, soybeans and wheat on the 800 acres of land they work in eastern Ontario. They also feed about 200 to 250 Holstein heifers.

A life-long involvement in the dairy industry plus a Christian belief in the need to help others and a strong support of the industry and its high quality product all came together when Simpson thought about donating milk to food banks. "I had an occasion to visit the Ottawa food bank in the early 1990s and was appalled to learn that it received so little dairy produce that it didn't even consider it a category of food into which they could sort donations."

The milk donation program is now in its tenth year and half a million litres go into the food bank system annually. Milk transporters pick up the donated milk for free and processors donate the pasteurization and packaging.

For Wyatt McWilliams' father, Willard, the spur came when he was watching Canada AM one morning and saw the plight of Prairie farmers who were unable to feed their livestock because drought had wiped out their feed supplies. After discussing the situation with Wyatt over the phone, Willard called his local municipal councillor, who in turned called the local MP.

"The only way we could ship any hay was to have transportation provided and that was with the railway cars," Wyatt explains, adding that's how this summer's Hay West campaign got its start.

By September 17, 16,200 bales had arrived at their destination and another 94,523 were pledged. by 1,620 farmers from Central and Eastern Canada. The donated hay had to be fumigated before being loaded and shipped west. And more hay continued to make its way out west after that date.

Although many farmers may wonder if their industry has good leaders, Hill and others believe it does. "What would help us get more aggressive farm leaders is if farmers gave them more support," Hill notes. "I don't mean just support them with a few dollars. But support them with their presence, with their actions and with their involvement." BF

Sharpening those vital leadership skills

by SUSAN MANN

This 19-month executive development program is for men and women who want to broaden their horizons and expand their networks. Participants develop leadership abilities, increase their knowledge of the agri-food system and develop broader perspectives on critical issues in the industry.

Since its beginning in 1985, 234 participants have graduated from the program. They pay $6,000 tuition, which is one quarter of the total cost. The rest of the costs are picked up by agri-food industry sponsors which include Chicken Farmers of Ontario, Monsanto Canada, Ontario Federation of Agriculture and the University of Guelph.

The program is now the cornerstone for the recently established Centre for Rural Leadership. The Centre also has a continuing education program for graduates of the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program. Other agricultural and rural leadership programs are expected to be added in the future.

Half of the participants in the Advanced Agricultural Leadership Program are farmers from all different commodities, says executive director Ann Gordon. The other half is from agricultural businesses, the service and financial sector, rural or educational groups, food processors, government or commodity groups.

"It's very important that we have that balance in the class across the sector," she explains. "That's where some of the uniqueness of the program comes from. It gives people a chance to talk across the sector, so farmers are talking to food processors, who are talking to bankers, who are talking to government. It's part-and-parcel of the learning."

The program is organized into a series of seminars, two study tours and distance education format that cover a variety of themes, such as leadership, public speaking, communication, facilitation, the dynamics of change, decision-making and responsibility, how the political process works and lobbying, dealing with issues, understanding Canadian-American relations and strategic planning in business. On the study tours, political, cultural and economic comparisons are looked at.

Generally participants find the program worthwhile. "We have a 98 per cent satisfaction rating," she says. BF

The hallmarks of leadership - vision, integrity, service

by SUSAN MANN

In working with clients over the seven and a half years he has been a co-owner of Strive, Kikkert says he has seen a mixed bag of leadership styles -- both strong and weak. The company, which is based in Guelph, specializes in three areas. It trains boards of directors on governance to help them operate more effectively. In the area of strategic planning, it assists organizations in making decisions about their own future.

The company's third specialty is performance management. The work Strive does here is to facilitate the development of appropriate performance expectations, assist in the hiring process for senior staff and coach the development and implementation of performance feedback systems.

Strive's clients include agricultural, rural and non-agricultural groups. But its primary clients are agricultural groups and companies in Canada and the United States, such as Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Chicken Farmers of Ontario, Alberta Egg Farmers, the Ohio Farm Bureau, Semex Alliance, Gencor, Sunterra Farms and Ontario DHI (Dairy Herd Improvement).

Truly top-notch leaders have a strong vision of where they think agriculture or their organization needs to go. They must also be willing to serve. "To me leadership is a lot about service," Kikkert explains. "You're serving an industry or an organization. You're not looking for the attention yourself."

Good leadership isn't about control or taking charge. It's about leading and encouraging. It also requires passion, integrity and a willingness to stand up for your values.

"Someone who's very dynamic and tells lies, to me, is not a leader," he explains. "Someone with integrity, who's willing to serve, has a strong vision and encourages others to follow the vision, is much more of a leader."

So are good leaders made or born? Kikkert doesn't believe they're born. But he does believe that "certain qualities and skills definitely come easier for some people than for others." BF