Pushing Past the Point of Comfort in Ag ...
What I Learned in Conversation with Craig Davidson of Taurus Ag ...
Taurus is latin for "bull" and symbolizes strength, perseverance, and fertility in many different cultures. But in the case of Craig Davidson's agricultural inputs company who's motto is "advancing every acre", perhaps it should be latin for "bullish".
Whether you are a farmer, an ag input retailer, or an admiring fellow distributor such as myself, if you are involved with agriculture in Western Canada, you are likely familiar with some of the "greatest hits" that Craig and his team have helped to bring to the market:
My curiosity beyond the "how" Craig managed to do this, was the "why" behind his approach to the market, illustrated by many of my favourite quotes from our conversation ...
ON GROWING THINGS ...
"I love the idea of taking something and growing it, whether it's a crop, an animal, or even an idea—a vision. To me, the connection between all these is fundamentally the same in my life."
ON PERSERVERANCE ...
"I always tell people that are starting out in business, if you can find a way to get through that first 12 months, find your way to 18 months, you start to find some solidity."
ON BEING ON THE THE (B)LEADING EDGE IN AG ...
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"Every time you push past the point of comfort, you're always going to learn. You're always going to find something you didn't know."
ON BEING THE FARMER'S LAST CALL AT THE END OF THE DAY ...
"At Taurus, we have a portfolio of agronomic solutions, but it's almost the opposite approach. If we do our job properly,?we are more focused and caring about our customer by asking questions. We don't worry about what we have, we're more focused on understanding what you're doing, what are some of the limitations you have in your business, and what is your agronomic focus? How do we help growers be better at what they do? It's a little easier for us to compartmentalize what the initial opportunity may be rather than the round peg into the square hole to start with. Once you get involved at that level, you probably find that there's other things that can fit, you just had to spend more time in the relationship to uncover that next opportunity, right? We start pretty small, on one or two things, and then try to focus on doing a really good job there, making sure growers are seeing value, and over time, it can evolve into other things ... but never have we ever had success trying to sell somebody 45 things at the same time. That grower being happy and successful and farming more acres and in calling us at the end of the day and it's 10 o'clock at night asking,?'What do you think about this?' ... to me ... that might be the most gratifying and our greatest joy out of doing this ... because you've earned the trust through all these things that you've brought over the years."
ON KEEPING THE CONSUMER ALIVE AND WELL ..
"If our core customers are dead, then they're no longer customers. That's a repeat customer when they're alive. We're talking to people about growing healthy plants at the same time. We should be making that connection to themselves, right? We want our customers to be as healthy as they can be. If they're healthy, they're probably thinking clearer. They're thinking more dynamically. They're eliminating some stress or anxiety in their life. A lot of that comes back to what you put in your body. That's a major concern of society as a whole today. If we're not putting the right things in, it changes the chemistry of how our mind works and how we operate."
ON WHAT GETS YOU OUT OF BED IN THE MORNING ...
"When it's all said and done, if you want to be known for something, you'd say, well, we left a positive impact on society. We left a positive impact on agriculture. We truly believe in 20 years in?agriculture will never be the same based on some of the things that we were a part of over that time. But on the go forward, what gets you up in the morning and keeps you going?... to me it's giving growers a stronger voice and helping them be more successful on a daily basis."
You can listen to my complete conversation with Craig Davidson at growingthefuturepodcast.ca, or anywhere you listen to podcasts ...
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