People are the Key to Farm Expansion

People are the Key to Farm Expansion

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
It’s time for your Farm of the Future Report. I’m Tim Hammerich.

Kristjan Hebert is a farmer in Saskatchewan who has grown his operation from around 3,500 acres to nearly 30,000. To maximize his investment in fixed costs, he focused on growing in 8,000 acre chucks. But he says the key to this tremendous growth isn’t the equipment or technology, it’s the people.

Hebert… “Equipment is a fixed cost, people are an investment. Not a cost. But the only way to minimize your fixed costs is actually to have the most efficient people investment you've ever had because they're the people that actually optimize all your fixed costs. And so at the speed we hire people is the speed that we try to get to the next multiple of 8,000. And we realized that the people are actually what allow us to minimize fixed costs, not necessarily the acres.”

Hebert is a former certified public accountant, and says focusing on building his team has helped him maximize his return on capital.

Hebert… “So, I mean, this last year we expanded, you know, as a net expansion, right around 6,000 acres and we didn't hire anybody. It got closer to the multiple of 8,000. The team was probably the best functioning team we've ever had. And so our fixed costs cratered, right, 6,000 into 24,000 acres. So, I mean, we had a significant drop in fixed costs and yet executed as good as we ever have.”

In addition to farming, Hebert owns Maverick Ag, a consulting company for other farmers.

Previous ReportUkko Agro Brings Data to Pest and Disease Forecasting
Next ReportThe Five Percent Rule for Farm Profitability