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Family, Farming, & Fortitude with Amanda Hammond-O'Connell

Sep 4, 2018

Amanda Hammond-O’Connell is the Owner/Operator of Sunol Farms Ltd., a family dairy farm based in Carleton Place, Ontario. In 2002, she graduated from Kemptville College with a diploma in Agriculture, Agriculture Operations, and Related Sciences. In 2005, she obtained an Honors Degree in Agriculture.

 

Amanda initially began farming in 2006 with her father and husband, Jason. She is an active member of Dairy Farmers of Ontario and has received several awards and recognition including the 2012 Dairy Youth Award for Eastern Ontario, 2014 Outstanding Young Farmers of Ontario award, and 2018 Top Producing Robot Herd in Ontario award. Additionally, she has been featured in multiple books and publications such as Farm and Food Care’s Faces of Farming as well as the Farmwives book by Billi Miller.

 

Amanda joins me today to share what inspired her to become a dairy farmer and debunk the myths around women in agriculture. She shares how technology and robots have helped her improve her family’s farm efficiency and productivity and explains how the dairy quota impacts the consumer’s price on dairy products. She also shares why she became passionate about shedding light on the agriculture industry and the importance of business owners - especially those in agriculture - to push through the challenges and obstacles they face while growing their business.

“There were moments when we thought it wasn’t going to happen, but we were stubborn enough to keep driving forward.” - Amanda Hammond-O’Connell

 

Today on I’m A Millionaire...So Now What?:

 

  • What inspired her to become a dairy farmer.
  • Debunking the stereotypes around farming and agriculture.
  • How the farm has evolved over the last three generations.
  • How she incorporated the use of robots into her farming business to improve the milking process.
  • How the use of robotics has enabled her to diversify her farming operations.
  • How embracing technology on her family farm has helped increase productivity and efficiency.
  • Financial challenges they faced while starting their journey into investing in agriculture technology.
  • How the dairy quota works and how it impacts business decisions as well as bank lending decisions.
  • Debunking misconceptions about the impact of farm gate prices on the consumer’s dairy product prices.
  • How gender diversity is evolving in the agriculture industry.
  • How she became passionate about advocating for the agriculture industry.

 

 

Amanda Hammond-O’Connell’s Fun, Frank Advice for Self-Made Millionaires & Wealthy Families:

 

  1. Do what makes you happy.
  2. Remember: If you don’t have those lows - you will never get the highs. Just keep on trucking; keep moving forward and doing what you love.

 

 

Resources Mentioned:

 

 

 

Connect with Amanda Hammond-O’Connell:

 

 

 

 

 

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