Elaine Froese is an expert in helping family businesses talk about tough issues. She’s a catalyst for courageous conversations for positive farm succession planning.

Like many of her clients, Elaine is an active farmer and she watches the sky. Her common sense and down to earth style of communicating and asking hard questions is deeply appreciated by folks who find it hard to ask for help.

Farm Family Coach Elaine Froese (pronounced phrase) is sought after across the country for her expertise in helping farm families get unstuck. She has worked with families in business for over 20 years and is now coaching the next generation.

Elaine is a professional certified coach from the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara. She holds a Conflict Resolution Certificate from Mediation Services, mediating for the Farm Debt Mediation Service. She earned her degree as a professional home economist from the University of Manitoba.

She listens and coaches in the sacred space of family business meetings and inspires new scenarios for people of all ages.

Elaine believes that change is an opportunity, not a threat’she has practical tools to help people discuss the undiscussabull to make their dreams come true.

Published Author She is the author of the award winning book Planting the Seed of Hope: A Celebration of Prairie Life. Some of you have been following her column in Grainews, which she has been writing for over 13 years.

Succession Planning Expert As a former extension home economist and now as a succession expert, Elaine is wired to help agricultural families in transition. She farms in southwestern Manitoba, and enjoys hikes, camping, watercolours, and watching the prairie sky. Like you, Elaine understands agriculture, and she wants a happy family.

Keynotes and Speaking Topics

• Discuss the Undiscussabull’: Tools for Talking about Tough Issues in Farm Transfer Conflict is a normal part of farm family business, especially with farm succession planning. Avoiding conflict keeps farm families stuck, unable to improve their business and family life. A Virginia Tech study of 400 farms found that those farm family businesses that could communicate were 21% more profitable. In this revealing presentation, Elaine gives you the tools and strategies you need to improve communication within your farm family.
• Planning for Change: The Cycle of Renewal You love farming and you never plan to really quit. Your spouse has other ideas. You are both in different stages of the cycle of renewal, but don’t know it. Your adult children want you to move to town. What are you going to do? Nothing? That doesn’t feel very good! Elaine shows you how to plan for change, let go and take on new plans.
• Who Wants the Farm… and When?: Farm Succession Planning Tools for Action Farming dads need to transfer control and ownership (eventually) to younger farmers. If there is no successor, then what? If there is a keen successor’congratulations! What do young farmers want? They want certainty of ownership, and a plan with deadlines. They want the farm intact. What do older founding farmers want ? To be useful and appreciated. Fairness. They want an income stream for their lifestyle needs. Discover ways to get certainty about everyone’s future and income in this exciting and educational presentation.
• Living an Intentional Life: Balance in a Complex World Folks are tired and overloaded. They think self care is selfish. Too many roles and too little time. Where did the fun go ? Elaine is an active farm partner with off-farm demands, just like you. She’s experienced a serious health issue which makes her passionate and practical about being intentional, not ‘busy’ and she shares with you her story and strategies for living a balanced life.
• The Gift of Encouragement: Encouraging the Heart of Your BusinessLack of appreciation is one of the top key reasons farm succession planning fails or is blocked. Farm families need a strong emotional bank account and huge relational capital, not just net worth. Each generation needs to feel their work counts. In this presentation you’ll discover family leadership skills to strengthen your business and your family.

Books and Articles

• Planting the Seed of Hope: A Celebration of Prairie Life
• Do the Tough Things Right… how to prevent communication disasters in family business.
• Grainews – Column for 13 years.

Client Reviews

• “Elaine came to our community in Dominion City and talked about how rural communities could be vibrant communities by working together. In her workshop she made us really think about who we were and who we would like to be. It made us realize that what a community becomes is really within itself. People can get together and talk about their visions for their community and make it happen. It was a really positive experience and she did an excellent job of leading us in that discussion.” – Canadian Food Grains Bank
• “We do a lot of business with farmers — estate planning, disability insurance, etc. — and Elaine works in the industry and is very knowledgeable. She works with farm families and shows them how to solve their problems. We liked her human approach – she’s aware of the stress issues that a lot of farmers have and felt that she was the right person to talk to us. Many of my clients had already used her services and before and were in love with her and I’ve heard so many good things about her. We were really impressed with what she had to say.” – Faith Life Financial
• “Elaine Froese talks about Succession Planning, not from an operational perspective, but from a “soft side.” She talks about how people must communicate to get a better understanding of what their personal objectives are, develop a plan, and then go to more of an operational side. The Farm Leadership Council found her to be an exceptional speaker because she can relate to her audience. She’s a farmer, so she knows what farming is all about. She’s a veteran coach so she has a vast array of knowledge that she draw from. So she can talk about almost an experience and people can understand what she’s talking about.” – Farm Leadership Council
• “Elaine Froese is authentic in what she’s doing, she’s a farmer, she’s knowledgeable about her topic. We have her speak, come to workshops, run webinar sessions and people love her.” – Canadian Farm Business Management Council
• “I’ve know Elaine for about 30 years. Elaine worked with me on the Department of Agriculture as a home economist and we got heavily involved in the mediation work during the farm financial crisis of the mid 80s. She continues to specialize and do excellent professional work in succession planning, farm business management, and as an advisor to the Canadian Farm Business Management Council trying to improve the management of farmers working in very difficult situations.” – Dr. Jerry Gartner, Professional Agrologist