Increased Time With Family

The Challenge

The Mehmen’s situation is likely familiar to a majority of the mid to large size farms across North America. Their adherence to family values and continuing their tradition of being an independent, family owned and operated farm had become the very reason they were not seeing very much of each other.

Long hours throughout the year were common as, like many operations, Stan and Kyle themselves were doing it all. This affected their ability to focus on both business management and production practices adequately, but it was also taking a toll on their ability to spend time with their families.

The Mehmens were strongly committed to solving this challenge and ending the cycle of 15 hour days, so they began to brainstorm ideas and elicited the help of UnCommon Farms to ensure that their priority of spending time with one another without sacrificing quality of work on the farm could be achieved.

The Results

With UnCommon Farms' direction, MBS adopted a variety of processes and standardizations, structure and assignment of responsibilities. This has allowed MBS to understand when someone is doing “too much,” duplicating efforts, or if they need additional resources. Stan and Karmen are freed up from all daily work to do more project work, which allows them to be gone during the week if they choose (i.e. – grandkids), and to take extended vacations in the winter.

Now they all come home, and can “leave work at the office,” only doing the functions they wish to do themselves. In the past, if they weren’t there, it didn’t get done. Now, because of their management structure and control systems, they can leave when they need to and still ensure quality and accuracy.

Karmen Mehmen explains

“Because we decided that family time was a core value for MBS, we worked with UnCommon Farms to structure our tasks accordingly, and ensure that increased time with family could become a reality. We are now to the point that we refrain from working on Sundays, freeing ourselves and our employees to go to church, see relatives, take a nap, prepare for the week, and just take a break.

In addition to vacations, we take two separate weeks away from the farm to assemble plans for the business and for personal development of ourselves – making ourselves better – and enjoy time together away from the daily work. Through working with UnCommon Farms, we learned, implemented, adjusted and readjusted, and adopted practices to meet our goals, and we are a much better family farm because of our involvement.

The return is that now we have the increased time with family that is so important to us and have made this part of the job description for everyone at MBS Family Farms.”

What Was Said

“The biggest headaches for any business is always personnel, so farms need to develop and follow a specified hiring process to help ensure the best people can be found and hired. Helping farms develop such a customized process is one UnCommon Farms' specialties.”

img-field

Watch Video

Related Posts

Landowner Retention

The Challenge The owners and employees of the operation try to take great care of their landowners – they are timely with field work, exceptional in their stewardship of leased land, and, with their agronomy background, their yields typically exceed...

See Full Article

Keeping the Acres We Have

The Challenge With over 170 landowners, it was difficult for an Indiana family farm to know what is most important to each and every landowner so that they can exceed landowner expectations and they felt a bit disconnected from their landowner base....

See Full Article

Seed Treatment

UnCommon Farms Value-Network Creates Huge ROI on Soybean Seed Treater When it comes to planting, farmers have a multitude of factors to consider to save time and money while increasing the number of bushels harvested. A progressive corn and soybean...

See Full Article

UnCommon Knowledge, UnCommon Results

We get it – running a farm is tough. That's why we offer practical resources to help you tackle everyday challenges:

Business Management: Learn how to structure your farm for success, set smart goals, and boost efficiency.

Financials: Understand your farm's financial health through actionable resources and expert guidance.

Human Resources: Hire, manage, and retain a strong team effectively with expert insights and clear strategies.

Risk Management: Access information on risk identification and mitigation techniques specific to agriculture, including the latest tools and insurance options to protect your farm's legacy.

Strategic Planning: Receive expert insights on developing strategic plans tailored for family farms, including innovative strategies and market trends to ensure long-term success.

Succession Planning: Get clear steps and real-world advice for ensuring a smooth handover to the next generation.

Fuel your farm's future with expert advice. Subscribe to our free newsletter!