I have been wondering all day what I should put up on the ol' blog. I missed an update for yesterday because Mr. Coles and I decided we would become bin movers for a day. There was lots of anxiety in the air as neither one of us had ever moved a bin. The nervous thoughts of will the bin dollys work?, will the bin tip over?, will we be able to pull it?, is the wind going to pick up? and how long will this take us? preoccupied our thoughts the night before the big bin move. All said and done, it went off pretty good. We had them moved and set up in their new spots by noon. Thanks a bunch to Matt Stanford for providing some expertise from moving a bin 10 years ago! We actually spent more time going from store to store trying to find the proper supplies to try and anchor these suckers down. Luckily we had some excellent customer service at Lethbridge Fasteners.
As I typed the last paragraph I came up with what I wanted to comment on today. Customer Service. As many of us have probably noticed, customer service is on a steady decline over the last number of years. It is something that is particularly disturbing to me because I think some companies don't really care about their customer service. They all say they do but in all reality its all about sales or the bottom line. The larger the company, it seems, the lower the quality of customer service. The big companies can afford to have a few more poor customer service events than smaller ones.
I don't know about a lot of you but I make a lot of my decisions based on customer service. I will not judge any place until I have experienced it at least once. I don't really rely on other peoples recommendations too much because everyone has different tastes in terms of what they would like in a customer service event. I have no problems one way or another letting people know whether my experience at Company X was good or bad. For example, if my wife and I go out for a nice dinner somewhere and we get treated like we are the only customers in the restaurant (even though the place is packed). I will be the one to make sure I mention my excellent experience at restaurant X to as many people as I can. That same can be said if it is a bad experience.
I think there needs to be a shift back to focusing on the customer service experience and how important it is.
Just a few of the random thoughts inside of the brain at the end of a day on a friday afternoon.
Have a safe and happy Halloween!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Worst Part About Winter Coming......Winter Drivers!
Most people woke up this morning with a bit of a change of scenery. Snow has arrived in most parts of the province. In Lethbridge, we have had a few snowflakes but nothing (to this point) has stuck around. I have received text messages from family in Saskatchewan saying that they were having a "snow day" and could not even get out of their yards.
I don't personally mind the snow that much. The thing that always gets me is how people forget how to drive in winter conditions. It blows my mind that people who have lived and driven in Canada for all of their adult lives completely forget how to drive when winter comes around. Things like merging or crossing high speed traffic when roads are slippery because they can not wait the extra second for you to pass ( this is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to driving in general, more on that another day), driving way too fast, driving way too slow, not properly scaping their windshields and the list goes on.
All of this has made me realize that I do not mind winter so much. I can live with the snow and bundle up for the cold temperatures. Its the "winter drivers" that makes me cringe everytime I see snow or poor road conditions in the forecast.
Be safe out there!
I don't personally mind the snow that much. The thing that always gets me is how people forget how to drive in winter conditions. It blows my mind that people who have lived and driven in Canada for all of their adult lives completely forget how to drive when winter comes around. Things like merging or crossing high speed traffic when roads are slippery because they can not wait the extra second for you to pass ( this is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to driving in general, more on that another day), driving way too fast, driving way too slow, not properly scaping their windshields and the list goes on.
All of this has made me realize that I do not mind winter so much. I can live with the snow and bundle up for the cold temperatures. Its the "winter drivers" that makes me cringe everytime I see snow or poor road conditions in the forecast.
Be safe out there!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Powers of Technology and Social Media
As we move forward in this industry its hard not to notice that the landscape of Agriculture is changing. I remember a time (and it was not that long ago) where no one had a cell phone or an email (or even internet for that matter). I could remember trying to get a hold of someone and would try first thing in the morning, at lunch or after supper. You knew that if you did not get a hold of the person you were looking for at any one of those, you were waiting until the next time you would hope they come into the house to answer their phone. You relied on regular mail and the good 'ol land line to communicate with people.
This is all fascinating stuff when you think about how we communicate in today's world. There are so many different ways to get your message across. Whether it be Email, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc., there is no shortage of ways to get in touch with someone or let them know what is going on with you. And you see it everywhere. Almost every company has at least one of the four I rattled off above. If you don't you are almost seen as pre-historic.
In the past 6 months SARA and SACA have gone through a similar evolution in the social media. It all started with our brand new website http://www.farmingsmarter.com/ . Then we got ourselves a Facebook page to try to connect to people there. Next up it was Twitter. Now we are bloggers.
Pretty interesting stuff when you look at how fast all the change has happened over the years. I am reminded of something Jerome Glenn said about change at the 2009 SACA Conference "All the change that has happened over the last 25 years, in the future it is going to happen twice as fast and there is going to be twice as much change."
So in the next 12 plus years there will be twice as much innovation as we have had in the last 25! That is a scary and exciting thought to think about.
This is all fascinating stuff when you think about how we communicate in today's world. There are so many different ways to get your message across. Whether it be Email, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc., there is no shortage of ways to get in touch with someone or let them know what is going on with you. And you see it everywhere. Almost every company has at least one of the four I rattled off above. If you don't you are almost seen as pre-historic.
In the past 6 months SARA and SACA have gone through a similar evolution in the social media. It all started with our brand new website http://www.farmingsmarter.com/ . Then we got ourselves a Facebook page to try to connect to people there. Next up it was Twitter. Now we are bloggers.
Pretty interesting stuff when you look at how fast all the change has happened over the years. I am reminded of something Jerome Glenn said about change at the 2009 SACA Conference "All the change that has happened over the last 25 years, in the future it is going to happen twice as fast and there is going to be twice as much change."
So in the next 12 plus years there will be twice as much innovation as we have had in the last 25! That is a scary and exciting thought to think about.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Back to Work!
After a great weekend of experiencing the best way to use barley (in my humble opinion) at my sister's wedding in Saskatchewan, it is time to get back to work.
There is still a bunch of fall work left to do with fall plant counts and soil sampling etc., it seems that there is a never ending task list for outside work and with snow in the forecast (and in some cases, its already here) its hard to get all dressed up and fight the cold!
Isn't it funny how when it is 2 degrees now we get all bundled up and then when we go through our cold stretches in the winter 2 degrees is short and t-shirt weather.
Just read through a copy of the Farming Smarter: Fall Edition. There are a lot of excellent stories in there. Look for it in your mailbox in early November.
There is still a bunch of fall work left to do with fall plant counts and soil sampling etc., it seems that there is a never ending task list for outside work and with snow in the forecast (and in some cases, its already here) its hard to get all dressed up and fight the cold!
Isn't it funny how when it is 2 degrees now we get all bundled up and then when we go through our cold stretches in the winter 2 degrees is short and t-shirt weather.
Just read through a copy of the Farming Smarter: Fall Edition. There are a lot of excellent stories in there. Look for it in your mailbox in early November.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
CTV Regina news is reporting that Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall is opposed to the BHP Billiton take over bid of the Potash Corp. Wall says that in the history of these deals that there are always promises made and there always seems to be promises broken, there is just too much risk in this deal.
All of the provincial political parties in Saskatchewan are in agreeance on this which is something that rarely happens.
Ultimately its up to the shareholders and the federal government as to whether this deal goes through.
What kind of impact might this have on agriculture? That might be a good question for a few of our speakers at the SACA conference.
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Some random thoughts on the drive to Saskatchewan.
- with all the moisture we have had this year, what kind of winter are we going to have?
- it is amazing to think about what it would have been like to pioneer the west. So much open range, no roads no cities and no traffic!
- think about the last thought for a second, is that deep down why farmer's do what they do? The feeling of innovation and being free
- after completing the agenda for the SACA conference the last couple of years, the first question I ask myself is "what the heck are we going to do next year to top this one?"
- are there applied research associations across Saskatchewan? I don't think there are many. It makes the work ARECA and the member associations are doing even more special we can't lose this.
- wher do producers learn everything that they do on the farm? What percentage of it comes from relatives, school, newspapers, internet, conferences, field tours/days, industry folks, coffee shops, looking over the neighbour's fence and good ol trial and error.
It is amazing to think about all the different and unique ways to learn in this industry.
Chris Procyk
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry
- with all the moisture we have had this year, what kind of winter are we going to have?
- it is amazing to think about what it would have been like to pioneer the west. So much open range, no roads no cities and no traffic!
- think about the last thought for a second, is that deep down why farmer's do what they do? The feeling of innovation and being free
- after completing the agenda for the SACA conference the last couple of years, the first question I ask myself is "what the heck are we going to do next year to top this one?"
- are there applied research associations across Saskatchewan? I don't think there are many. It makes the work ARECA and the member associations are doing even more special we can't lose this.
- wher do producers learn everything that they do on the farm? What percentage of it comes from relatives, school, newspapers, internet, conferences, field tours/days, industry folks, coffee shops, looking over the neighbour's fence and good ol trial and error.
It is amazing to think about all the different and unique ways to learn in this industry.
Chris Procyk
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry
Conference Registrations are Now Open!
We are now accepting registrations for the 2010 SACA presents "Farming Today: Are you Ready?" Conference and Tradeshow on November 30 and December 1 at the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede Cypress Centre.
Registration is $175 for a full conference pass which includes all meals and the banquet. There is also a single day rate of $110 if you are unable to take in both days.
Check out http://www.farmingsmarter.com/ for all the details on the agenda and how to register.
Registration is $175 for a full conference pass which includes all meals and the banquet. There is also a single day rate of $110 if you are unable to take in both days.
Check out http://www.farmingsmarter.com/ for all the details on the agenda and how to register.
Welcome!
Welcome to the initial post on the Farming Smarter Blog!
In here you will find all the information and opinions you will need to help make the best possible decisions when it comes to you farming operation. We will be posting research information, videos, pictures, and updates about various events throughout Southern Alberta.
Please feel free to send us any questions or comment on stories we post.
In here you will find all the information and opinions you will need to help make the best possible decisions when it comes to you farming operation. We will be posting research information, videos, pictures, and updates about various events throughout Southern Alberta.
Please feel free to send us any questions or comment on stories we post.
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