New coach responds to quest for change on farms

This story, written by Owen Roberts, was originally published in the Woolwich Observer on April 23, 2026. 

For farmers, this could be one of the toughest planting seasons on record… and not because of the weather.

It’s usually rain, drought, cold or snow that stymies farmers at this time of year. But 2026 is already distinguished by the way global changes are affecting nearly every human being on Earth. And farmers are being hit particularly hard.

As they get their planting equipment out of storage, farmers are facing costs for the likes of fertilizer and seed that are out of sight. Worse, even before the U.S. launched the Middle East war and made fuel ghastly expensive, global crop prices were already depressed due to oversupply. The combination of low prices and high costs is crushing farmers.

Cam Ogilvie, president of a new Guelph-based coaching company for farmers called Curioso, says war and weather are just the tip of the iceberg.

And then there are new technologies and new practice standards for more sustainable and ethical crop and livestock production. Some farmers think they’re excessive, forced on them by decision makers who know little about farming. The situation is frustrating, but it must be dealt with.

“These new standards mean that many businesses are being forced to change how they farm in order to keep their market access,” says Ogilvie. “It often means new compliance requirements as well, so along with adapting and implementing new practices on the farm comes the challenge of documenting and reporting all of it.”

That’s where Ogilvie comes in.

Four years ago, the Soil Health Institute asked him to develop and deliver an education program for potato growers with McCain in North America. At the time, McCain had just announced its global commitment to regenerative agriculture, a promising approach to soil health and sustainability. His job was to educate potato farmers on regenerative agriculture practices and how these could apply in potato systems.

But, he says, he quickly realized that these growers didn’t need education. Rather, they needed support and coaching to figure out how to implement regenerative practices on their farms.

So he designed and piloted a group coaching program for McCain in Manitoba, which flourished. Today, McCain runs cohorts in each of its seven growing regions across North America.

Ogilvie says a producer on a quest for change needs a coach, not an advisor. A coach recognizes producers’ expertise and partners with them by asking the right questions to help them determine how to realize change and chart their quest.

For example, a coach might help producers figure out how they want to diversify their crop rotation. A coach might ask questions about the farm’s medium- and long-term business goals, and what alternative crops would best align with those outcomes. “It’s about empowering people to own the change for themselves,” he says. “My hope is that, by helping producers and agribusinesses get unstuck with the changes they’d like to make, that process of improvement gets faster and smoother.”

And to him, farmers who succeed with change mean a healthier rural environment and a happier community, even with the world on fire.