RealAgriculture is expanding its podcast network with the launch of How Could I Know? a new, monthly podcast featuring candid conversations about the moments when people are forced to navigate unfamiliar territory and learn in real time.
Launching next week, How Could I Know? is co-hosted by Chris Corbett, farm advisor, and Patti Durand, founder of Brightrack Consulting and a long-time advisor to farm business families. The podcast will be available on RealAgriculture.com, major podcast platforms, and RealAgriculture's YouTube channel.
Each episode invites guests to reflect on a time they were unprepared, inexperienced, or unsure and what they wish they had known then that they know now. The stories span farm succession, business transitions, health challenges, and leadership decisions, with a focus on shared learning rather than hindsight judgment.
“Working with farm families has shown me how universal these experiences are, and how rarely they get shared,” says Durand. “This podcast is about normalizing uncertainty and learning from each other’s lived experiences.”
The first episode features Michael Ferguson of Melfort, Saskatchewan, who recounts stepping into a successor role in his family operation and navigating early land negotiations while feeling completely out of his depth and scope initially.
New episodes will be released monthly, to build a growing library of real-world experiences listeners can return to as challenges arise.
“If this podcast helps people feel less alone, ask better questions, or recognize themselves in someone else’s story, then we’ve done our job,” says Durand.
Episode 1 drops January 15th, 2026, so keep your eye out for it.
For more information and to subscribe, visit RealAgriculture.com/podcasts or follow RealAgriculture across major podcast platforms and YouTube!
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Now, I mentioned this new podcast that is launching. It is entitled How Could I Know? There can be some great storeys and discussions coming out of it. One of the co hosts is Patty Durand of Bright Track Consulting and she joins us right now. Hey, Patty, how are we doing?
I am great. And you?
I'm doing fantastic. So, Patty, introduce yourself to the audience. Who is Patty Durant?
I am a curious kid from Humboldt, Saskatchewan. I a longtime entrepreneur within the agriculture space and in the most recent decade, I've spent a lot of time with farm business families, helping them to navigate transition, succession, decision making. And part of what I've learned is, man, oh man, there are so many common bonds, common experiences, and they don't always get shared with each other. And so that's where we're aiming with this.
Yeah. So what in. How could I know? What kind of discussions do you see yourself happening here to kind of prep the audience? Because I think there's gonna be a lot of people interested in these discussions because you talk to such a wide array of farm families about their, you know, not only the succession experience, but their entrepreneurial experience. So give us some thoughts on where you want to go with this.
So the intent is, is to ask people to tell the storey of a time that they were thrust into a situation that they were ill prepared for, inexperienced with, didn't know which way was up and how they navigated it, but also what they know now that they wish they knew then. It is, it is a universality that we all experience and it's super uncomfy and maybe we can learn from each.
Other and that is some of the best learning is when we're learning from our other peers. Like you and I were chatting during the commercial break about some, some opportunities and just trying to feed off of each other and try to learn and another, another person's mistakes or missteps can, can, you know, learning from those, the experience of others can really allow you to fast track your own path completely.
You might not recognise the. The storey specifically, but you'll pull threads. You're like, wait a minute, yeah, like I could do this differently. Or that's actually me. Or that's the question I could ask. It is. It's been really interesting actually, as we've been recruiting guests for the podcast. In the conversations I imagined I was going to have to prompt the people more and say, well, think of a situation or. Or when were you uncomfortable? People know within 15 to 30 seconds. They're like, I know exactly the storey I'm going to tell. And so what I imagined I was going to have to work harder for. People are super happy to offer up this storey so they can prevent someone else's pain.
The podcast is How Could I Know? Hosted by Chris Corbett and Patti Durand. And it's going to. The first episode's going to be launching next week on the RealAgriculture.com podcast network as well as on our YouTube channel. Patty, what's your storey? Do you have a. How could I know? Or if you think back to some sort of like key pivot point for. For yourself as you self reflect on it.
I'm not sure I have enough time, truly. I wouldn't say this isn't in agriculture, but my most recent experience is we had a pretty big healthcare scare in my family this year and being a professional launched into the healthcare system that I'm not familiar with. Man, was I craving, like a Sherpa, someone to guide us. And so we learned a lot about what to expect, but also not what to not expect and how important it was to be an advocate for ourselves. So that's a really condensed version, but as I was experiencing it, I'm like, this is what my business families feel like, that they are experienced, they know what they're doing in their own realm, but when they're thrust into something else, just how deeply uncomfortable it is.
Yeah, it's sort of like when I'm trying to do a fix a job around the house. I know nothing. I'm the most unhandiest person in the world. My wife would attest to it. I'm very comfortable doing this, but with a hammer and screwdriver in my hand, not so much. No confidence, tonnes of questions, tonnes of self criticism and an unwillingness to even really participate. But those are opportunities to really learn about yourself. Where you're thrust into a situation where you're not comfortable and having to rely on some of those key core skills that you have to kind of steer through it. But the key is probably not to try to do that alone, truly, and.
Just to recognise that you're not unique in this experience, sometimes our humanity is such that we, we just like, man, how could I be this stupid? How could I be this ignorant? Why am I so ill equipped? And it triggers a whole bunch of like discomfort and, and panic at times. And if the message of how could I know is hope, that's a great day.
Yeah, there's, and there's a lot of different emotions as you were probably going through that. Those healthcare challenges, there's like moments where you think you're making progress and then there's like moments of frustration, probably some anger mixed in there. There's probably others as well.
And also when you perceive things, you're like, I think this is how this is. And you recognise that's actually not the case. You make assumptions along the way. So yeah, I just, I think at minimum this podcast will be interesting because storeys are. And the big hope is that it'll put some tools in people's hands and we will learn together. Because our community can be a bit isolated at times, just the geography of agriculture, we're really spread out. So let's bring the coffee table a little closer and see what we can learn.
So is you think about that healthcare experience is there and you ask yourself the question of, I wish I know then what I know now. What would that be?
Oh, gosh, several things. But I think ultimately that it was all going to be okay. That we are smart, caring people with a smart, caring village around us and that sometimes you just gotta slow down and take care of what's in front of you. That can be pretty transferable lesson, no matter what you're doing.
Yeah. You know, you work with a lot of farm families and trying to steer through some of the farm transition sort of stuff. I'm curious, are we getting better at this or is it just as challenging as ever?
I am very optimistic that we are pulling in a direction that is more proactive and productive than it has been historically. I am hearing questions that. And the best example I can give is that I spoke at an event for non agricultural entrepreneurs in the fall and the questions they were asking were purely around like structure and tax and really basic things that I am not hearing that as much in agriculture anymore. I feel like there's been an education and understanding that families are figuring out that they need to understand what it is they're trying to accomplish, that they need to have conversations and they're asking for some help to do it. So in agriculture, I feel that the questions around transition and succession have become more sophisticated and there's a Greater understanding that there's more at play than just dollars. It's the cost of relationships and that clarity is important. And so it was that experience in the fall that I'm like, oh, you know what? We have come a long way. We've still got a ways to go, but we're shifting.
It's not getting easier, especially with the complexity of some of the businesses, the size of the enterprises, the price of land and the run that it has been on has increased the value of some farmland immensely. And when there's more money around, things get a little bit more complicated. And so simplicity is not exactly the word of the day, but you can still work at it and have success, truly.
And I think that that is what's highlighting for people to get going at it sooner, because that's the other shift, is that people are recognising they can't just start having transition conversations the year before they'd intend to step back or retire, or the year before they intend to become the successor. This is a. A process in which time, and the more time you have can really be your friend. And people are saying, oh, like I need to start this conversation now, as opposed to in 15 or 20 years.
That let's not wait for mom and Dad's 60th anniversary to get started.
Bingo. Yeah, absolutely. So how can we set the table sooner? People are getting that. And you're not wrong. The complexity is a proponent and knowing that there's just more on the line and. But that's the opportunity, is the sooner you start, the more lanes you have to pick from so that complexity can be kind of peeled apart and you can pick different lanes that, yeah, can really serve us. And that gives me a lot of hope.
Episode one is going to drop next week. Who's the guest in episode one?
So the first guest is Michael Ferguson and he is in the industry in a number of different capacities, but his particular storey that we focused on was one of when he was first starting as a successor and the young farmer in his family operation and navigating land negotiations and just what a fish out of water he was and what he learned from it. So, yeah, great insights and reflections that. Pretty interesting.
So we're going to be launching or putting out an episode once a month. When we get through the calendar year, we've got 12 episodes under our belts. What do you and Chris hope the audience is left with? What's one of the objectives in a perfect world?
What I'd love to see is, is that we work through so many different scenarios that it becomes almost a bit of a database of things that people can go back to. They're like, oh, you know what? I heard an episode about this situation that I'm in right now and I can go back to it and have a look at it. That kind of resource of if nothing else, affirmation that you're not alone. But more so here's who I talk to. Here's the question I questions I asked. Here's some nuances of the situation that I didn't know before. That level of resource and kind of the legacy piece of the outcome of the podcast. Yeah, that. That excites both Chris and I. We've talked about it a lot and it's about helping more people faster and it's about recognising that we are have more in common often than.
Absolutely. We've been talking to Patty Durand. She's with Bright Track Consulting. She's the co host of a new podcast with Chris Corbett launching on Real Agriculture's podcast network in YouTube channel is entitled How Could I Know. Patty, I'm so excited about this. Congratulations on the launch of the podcast and looking forward to episode one dropping next week.
Me too. Thank you.
