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The Expanding Role of Precision Specialists & How to Prevent Burnout

Precision specialists often wear many hats these days — technician, manager, salesperson, farmer. The long hours can lead to burnout. Several attendees at the 2024 Precision Farming Dealer Summit in Indianapolis, gathered for a roundtable discussion on ways to alleviate stress and lighten the load. Here are some top takeaways I jotted down in my notes app.

Training everybody — sales staff and customers — is the first big step to cutting down on burnout, one person suggested. "You need to manage the customer's expectations," he said. 

"Everybody at our dealership is expected to know the technology," another person said. "Salespeople should be able to install retrofit kits. If you have the experience of doing it, you can help customers. You better be able to get the equipment set up in the field, or you won't be able to sell it."

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Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.