Navigating Psychological Barriers of Making Changes on the Farm

After more than 30 years in strip-till and no-till, Dean Sponheim has seen the wins, setbacks and hard lessons learned that only time can teach. The northeast Iowa farmer talked about his journey at the National Strip-Till Conference earlier this month and addressed some of those psychological barriers he grappled with when adopting conservation practices. “Over the 20 some years I’ve been doing this (custom work), when trying to get people started, the biggest drawback that I have seen is right here (the mind). That gray matter between your ears. And to this day, it still bothers me. Anything that we start new or do new, I have sleepless nights and I usually can sleep pretty well. If you want to ask my wife, probably too well. I’m kind of lout too, but it’s the brain. I want you to ask yourself these questions. Why do we change? And I’m not talking, why do we change toothpaste? Why do we change the cereal we eat? I’m talking about why do we change jobs? Why do we do things differently on the farm? That’s basically like changing jobs. What motivates us? And that really comes down to you.” Look forward to sharing more from Dean’s presentation in the coming weeks on No-TillFarmer.com. Watch the full Video of this episode of Conservation Ag Update.