Jul 6, 2026 · 36 min · 11 segments
For Episode 1 of Decision Fit, Dr. Yolanda Plowman has a chat with farmer and farm advisor Cam Nicholson to discuss what it means to be a good decision maker, how you can train your decision-making…
Cam NicholsonGuest
Yolanda PlowmanHost
Look, I've been really lucky, Yolanda, in that in the advisory work, I've worked with a lot of really good individual farmers and I've observed ones that have made good decisions and ones less so, and being able to pull the characteristics out of those, but also involved in other programs like the Grain and Graze program.
People may be aware of sustainable grazing systems where the question of, well, in Grain and Graze, it was the integration of cropping and livestock.
And when the key question was, well, how much crop and how much livestock, the common response from farmers was it depends on how much risk you want to take on.
We do a lot in agriculture and present a lot of information in agriculture about averages when, in fact, we farm the volatility.
But trying to find information on that volatility and the ranges and so on was really, really, really difficult.
And then it was With that volatility in range, how do people make decisions? And there's an assumption that, as one farmer said to me, just because we make decisions all the time doesn't mean we're any good at making them.
And it sort of got me in this curiosity of, well, when have I actually been taught to make a good decision? So much hinges on it, but we weren't, I wasn't taught decision-making the same way as I was taught to read or write or do maths or all that sort of thing.
And it is a skill and we can explore that a bit further, but I think that's sort of why I got into it.
That is a fantastic answer because I was wondering if there was a penny drop moment for you.
You know, you've obviously gone down this path of interrogating these questions that nobody else really seemed to be asking or collecting data around for a long time.
So that is so helpful for me to know and I really love what you said around, is this a skill that I can learn? Is it a skill that I can develop? Because the whole point of the Decision Fit podcast is raising awareness and having conversations about, is this a process that, you know, we can get better at? Making better decisions doesn't really happen by accident.
If you want to get more physically fit, you go to the gym or you go out for runs and you do that consistently over time and you get better at it over time and you build that fitness balance.
As a farmer and a farm advisor, in your experience, is it something that people can get better at? You know, is that measurable? And how would people measure that?
And like all skills, you can learn it, you can practice it, you can get better at it, and you can be coached in it.
Look, I've been really lucky, Yolanda, in that in the advisory work, I've worked with a lot of really good individual farmers and I've observed ones that have made good decisions and ones less so, and being able to pull the characteristics out of those, but also involved in other programs like the Grain and Graze program.
People may be aware of sustainable grazing systems where the question of, well, in Grain and Graze, it was the integration of cropping and livestock.
And when the key question was, well, how much crop and how much livestock, the common response from farmers was it depends on how much risk you want to take on.
We do a lot in agriculture and present a lot of information in agriculture about averages when, in fact, we farm the volatility.
But trying to find information on that volatility and the ranges and so on was really, really, really difficult.
And then it was With that volatility in range, how do people make decisions? And there's an assumption that, as one farmer said to me, just because we make decisions all the time doesn't mean we're any good at making them.
And it sort of got me in this curiosity of, well, when have I actually been taught to make a good decision? So much hinges on it, but we weren't, I wasn't taught decision-making the same way as I was taught to read or write or do maths or all that sort of thing.
And it is a skill and we can explore that a bit further, but I think that's sort of why I got into it.
That is a fantastic answer because I was wondering if there was a penny drop moment for you.
You know, you've obviously gone down this path of interrogating these questions that nobody else really seemed to be asking or collecting data around for a long time.
So that is so helpful for me to know and I really love what you said around, is this a skill that I can learn? Is it a skill that I can develop? Because the whole point of the Decision Fit podcast is raising awareness and having conversations about, is this a process that, you know, we can get better at? Making better decisions doesn't really happen by accident.
If you want to get more physically fit, you go to the gym or you go out for runs and you do that consistently over time and you get better at it over time and you build that fitness balance.
As a farmer and a farm advisor, in your experience, is it something that people can get better at? You know, is that measurable? And how would people measure that?
And like all skills, you can learn it, you can practice it, you can get better at it, and you can be coached in it.
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