The AgriCoach Podcast by The Financial Bloke

Ask most farming families when succession actually begins and you'll hear a number — fifty-eight, sixty, "once the debt's down." In Episode 129 of The AgriCoach Wealth & Wisdom Podcast, succession facilitator James Hamilton of Cultivate Advisory offers a very different answer, and it reframes almost everything families think they know about handing on the land. James isn&ap...

What if the reason you can't find good people has nothing to do with where your farm is — and everything to do with how you're showing up? Finding and keeping top talent in agriculture is one of the most pressing challenges facing farming families today — and it's only getting harder. With a retirement cliff looming, a shrinking pool of skilled workers, and a generation that thinks...

Most farming families have a good year, watch the money come in — and then quietly wonder, sometime in March, where it all went. Not because anyone was reckless. Not because anyone wasn't working hard. But because profit without a plan doesn't stay put. It gravitates toward whatever's urgent, whatever's default, whatever no one got around to deciding. In this mini episode, Ben...

What separates the farming families who build something that lasts from those who simply survive? If you're honest about it, the answer rarely comes down to rainfall averages or commodity prices. It comes down to the decisions made by the people running the show — and the mindset they bring to every one of them. Tim McGavin grew up off-grid in western Queensland, raised by a semi-literate fat...

Markets are behaving in ways that don't seem to match the headlines. Conflict in the Middle East, the Strait of Hormuz under threat, oil briefly pushing $120 a barrel, inflation creeping back, interest rates moving the wrong way — and yet equity markets keep printing fresh all-time highs. If you've been watching your superannuation balance climb while quietly wondering what on earth is a...

Most farming families don’t fall apart because of one bad decision. They fall apart because of a conversation that kept getting put off. In this short, straight-shooting mini episode, Ben Law tackles a habit that quietly drains momentum, trust, and future options in family businesses — not through drama, but through delay. The kind that feels sensible at the time. The kind that buys comfort today...

She walked Valentino runways at $10,000 a day, built a media career that spanned some of Australia's biggest brands, and was awarded Gold in Fashion & Textiles and Silver in Agriculture & Farming at the Women Changing the World Global Awards in London, 2025. And then she moved to a sheep station in Walcha, New South Wales. But here's what makes Vanessa Bell's story genuinely...

 What if the most underutilised tool in your family business isn't a piece of machinery, a management software, or a new hire — but a structured room full of the right people, asking the right questions? In this episode of the Agricoach Wealth & Wisdom Podcast, Ben Law sits down with Mike Logan AM — farmer, business coach, and one of Australia's most respected advisory board chairmen...

There’s a message young men are hearing… and reacting to. But what if they’re reacting to the wrong part of it? In this mini episode, Ben Law steps straight into a phrase that stirred up outrage across the world — and reframes it in a way farming families need to hear. Not as chest-thumping bravado. Not as “suffer in silence.” But as a call to responsibility, grit, and discernment. Because there’s...

Most farming families see their accountant once a year — usually in a panic around the 30th of June. The families who are genuinely building something that lasts across generations? They're doing something fundamentally different. And it has very little to do with tax minimisation. In this episode of the AgriCoach Wealth & Wisdom Podcast, Ben Law sits down with Sarah Becker — Director of...

What if the thing holding your family business back… isn’t lack of opportunity — but lack of exposure? In this conversation with Kara Knudsen, co-founder of a rapidly scaling northern cattle operation, we get a rare look at what actually happens when a farming family decides to think bigger, act earlier, and deliberately build something that outlasts them. Kara shares the story behind their growth...

What if the most loving thing you can say to your child is, “That’s not good enough.” In this mini episode, Ben tackles a quiet pattern that shows up in farming families everywhere — not laziness, not bad intent, but standards that slowly soften over time. And when standards soften, performance follows. It rarely looks dramatic. It looks like picking your battles. Letting small things slide. Telli...

Character Over Credentials: Building Success in Agriculture That Lasts Some of the most successful people in agriculture didn’t follow the neat, modern career path everyone now promotes — and that’s exactly the point. In this episode, Ben Law sits down with David Foote — board member at Cattle Australia , former executive at Australian Country Choice , and a lifelong student of leadership — for a...

Most farming families don’t fall apart because of bad intentions. They stall because the right conversations never quite happen. In this episode, Ben sits down with communication specialist Katie Godden to talk about the one skill that quietly determines whether families move forward together — or slowly drift out of alignment. It’s the skill behind tough conversations that never get started, meet...

There’s a quiet habit that separates families who stay sharp across generations from those who slowly lose their edge… and it has nothing to do with markets, rainfall, or land values. In this straight-shooting mini episode, Ben Law shares a lesson handed to him decades ago by a highly successful operator — a lesson that sounded almost too simple to matter, yet has shaped how he works with some of...

Most farming families don’t break when things go wrong. They break when pressure becomes the normal state — and nobody notices until the cost shows up years later. In this conversation, Ben sits down with Ali Flynn — therapist, facilitator and high-performance practitioner — to talk about the kind of resilience that actually holds up under real-world pressure. Not the “push harder” version. Not th...

What if the reason so many capable farming families get stuck isn’t lack of advice — but the way they’re thinking about the problem in the first place? In this episode, Ben Law sits down once again with Dr Kate Burke, founder of Think Agri, to challenge some deeply held assumptions about decision-making, succession, and what really determines whether a family business thrives across generations. K...

Your great-grandfather faced shells, mud, and men trying to kill him. So why does a single conversation still stop so many farming families in their tracks? This mini episode cuts straight to a quiet truth most families don’t want to admit: the fears that hold us back today don’t look dramatic — but they’re just as powerful. Not because we’re weak, but because our wiring hasn’t caught up with the...

What if the real issue with “kids not stepping up” isn’t them at all? In this episode, Ben Law sits down again with high-performance advisor Chris Webb to tackle a question many farming families quietly wrestle with: why do capable, intelligent young people sometimes drift instead of rise? Drawing from elite sport, leadership environments, and years inside high-pressure teams, Chris challenges som...

What if the child who doesn’t want to come back on farm is actually your biggest long-term advantage? In this episode, I sit down with Andrew Conaghan, Managing Director of Livestock Junction, to challenge one of the quiet assumptions that holds many family businesses back — that contribution only counts if it happens on the ground, in the paddock, every day. Andrew’s pathway couldn’t be more diff...

Most farming families don’t fail because they can’t run a business. They fail because the family part was never properly prepared. Not long ago, the idea of having a coach in agriculture sounded odd — even unnecessary. Today, some of the most switched-on, asset-rich families in the country are quietly asking a different question: who’s actually helping us stay aligned as a family while everything...

Most families wait until something breaks to start succession conversations. High-performing families don’t. In this powerful conversation, Ben sits down with succession planner Tim Lane of Proagtive to unpack a truth most farming families quietly suspect: the ones who thrive across generations aren’t the biggest or wealthiest — they’re simply the ones who start early and keep talking. Tim lifts t...

What if the real threat to your family business isn’t drought, interest rates, or commodity prices — but entitlement creeping into the next generation ? In this Mini Episode, Ben Law — The Financial Bloke — takes aim at the behaviour that quietly rots family businesses from the inside. Entitlement isn’t random, and it’s not “just their personality”. Most of the time, we create it at home without r...

What if the biggest risk to your family farm isn’t drought, interest rates, or commodity prices— but you running yourself into the ground? In this episode of The Agricoach Wealth & Wisdom Podcast, Ben sits down with executive coach Tanya Atkinson , who works with leaders and farming families across Australia on growth, transition and burnout . Together they unpack a hard truth most high-perfor...

Ever wonder why the markets keep climbing even when everything feels uncertain? In this episode, Ben Law sits down with Libby Newman, Senior Investment Strategist at Vanguard Australia , to unpack what’s really driving today’s market highs, the rise of AI, and what it all means for long-term investors. From record share prices to gold surges and the unstoppable tech giants, Libby explains why dive...