Country Guide / Farm & Family contributor Delaney Seiferling, MCM looked into how shifting weather patterns are creating risks and opportunities for Prairie farmers, forcing them to rethink how they approach risk management when it comes to crops. “Despite our climate change forecasts, it will be possible to both prevent crop losses and take advantage of a warming climate,” Dr. David Sauchyn, director of the Prairie Adaptation Research Collaborative and a professor at the University of Regina, tells us.

Managing dad?!? That’s a biggie. Helen Lammers-Helps spoke with farm family coach Elaine Froese, CSP and Len Davies, a succession planning coach, for some tips on how to tell aging parents it might be time to step back from certain farm jobs, for the safety of everyone involved.

Combining all three aspects (management, planning and problem-solving), contributor Richard Kamchen outlines economic indicators your farm should keep an eye on, including planting decisions, fertilizer, expanding operations, livestock and equipment purchase. (This is part two in a series. You can read part one here.)

In terms of planning new food products, the Ask a Lawyer column summarizes the latest Health Canada updates on food additives, supplements and enzymes.

What are some management, planning and problem-solving aspects of your farm that preoccupy you and your team these days? I’d love to hear about it: astewart@farmmedia.com

Farm families work together to break new ground and nurture growth. As each member grows, our Farm & Family team wants to know how we can help YOUR farm and family grow further. Share your thoughts with Farm & Family editor astewart@farmmedia.com

The post Farm & Family – April 17 edition appeared first on Country Guide.

In many small businesses, it’s common to see husbands and wives, business partners or mixed-gender teams running the operation together. It can be incredibly rewarding.

It can also be frustrating.

Why? Because men and women often think differently. Not better or worse, just different.

One metaphor I’ve found helpful over the years comes from the book Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti by Bill and Pam Ferral. It paints a picture:

Men tend to compartmentalize. Like waffles, their minds operate in boxes. One thing at a time.

Women tend to connect everything. Like spaghetti, their thoughts are interwoven.

Understanding this isn’t about stereotyping. It’s about becoming curious. And if you’re going to lead well — especially across gender lines — you’ll need that curiosity.

Here are three essential leadership practices:

1. Self-awareness before strategy

Respect means not rolling your eyes when your spouse wants to talk about how everything connects to everything.

It also means you don’t shut down when your business partner seems focused on only one thing.

Respect says, “I see you. I trust there’s a reason you’re thinking this way.”

Curiosity is key. Instead of judging the difference, learn from it.

2. Ask questions

Demanding someone engage in a conversation with you is a wall-building venture. It says, “Talk to me now,” which almost always triggers defensiveness, especially when tension is high.

Instead, try “Hey, I’d love to understand more about what you’re thinking. Can we talk later today?”

Good questions invite trust. Demands create distance.

3. Be neutral and intentional

Open, honest conversations don’t just happen. You have to create space for them. And that space needs to feel safe.

That means coming into the conversation ready, not reactive.

Not weaponizing emotion.

Not trying to win.

Sometimes the best move is to walk away for now and come back later with curiosity, not a case to argue. That’s what real leadership looks like in relationships.

If you’re leading with someone who thinks differently than you, don’t run from the tension. Learn from it.

Understanding how men and women process, respond and communicate is one of the most overlooked leadership skills.

And it changes everything.

The post Great farm leadership requires curiosity appeared first on Country Guide.

And that’s the type of content Country Guide / Farm & Family aims to bring you each week.

For example, in Jeanine Moyer’s article The changing landscape of Canadian food demand, consumers’ eating habits are shifting, which is creating both risks and new opportunities for farmers and processors.

Jeanine also wrote this inspiring profile story about Janis Harris and her Ontario flower farm. After more than a decade of slowly building a flower-growing side business, Harris left her job as an optician to run the farm full time. Weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down. Read the article to find out how she managed to meet this incredible challenge.

Herman VanGenderen’s Investing for Fun & Profit column explains how the incredibly quick rotation from technology to HALOs (which stands for High Assets, Low Obsolescence) demonstrates the importance of diversifying your investment portfolio. He writes, “As money comes out of tech, it’s going into long-forgotten sectors defined by those that are capital intensive, high assets that artificial intelligence cannot make obsolete. Energy, pipelines, utilities, mining and industrials fit that definition.”

And contributor Richard Kamchen tells us how even though farmers are up against an era of unparalleled volatility, they aren’t entirely powerless to mitigate some of the risks. Learn about the economic and political influences guiding decisions on the farm here.

Farm families work together to break new ground and nurture growth. As each member grows, our Farm & Family team wants to know how we can help YOUR farm and family grow further. Share your thoughts with Farm & Family editor astewart@farmmedia.com

The post Farm & Family – April 10 edition appeared first on Country Guide.

We could almost title this week’s newsletter ‘things you don’t like, but that are good for you’.

For example, not many people enjoy the annual struggle to find seasonal employees for the upcoming busy spring-summer-fall seasons. In fact, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find willing hands to work on Canadian farms. In the article ‘Exploring non-traditional labour markets to source farm employees’ contributor Helen Lammers-Helps explores the factors behind this phenomenon and offers some tips for sourcing labour.

Another icky-but-necessary topic is financial planning of your assets when you die. For instance, special taxation rules apply to RRSPs/RRIFs upon your death. Jessi Brockman, a lawyer with Stevenson Hood Thornton Beaubier LLP, explains how you can be proactive about this now.

In ‘Managing highs and lows: How optional inventory adjustments (OIAs) fit into farm strategy’, Doug Hewko, CPA, CA, a chartered accountant and partner at KPMG Canada, explains what OIAs are and how they can help you manage when income volatility is a fact of life in Canadian agriculture.

And a word that makes us automatically think “yuck!’ is ‘bitter’. As Cultivating Wellness columnist Kathlyn Hossack explains, bitter flavour profiles might not always taste great but the foods that contain them offer many health benefits. Learn more in ‘Bitter is not always bad.’

Happy Easter and Passover to all who celebrate(d)!

Farm families work together to break new ground and nurture growth. As each member grows, our Farm & Family team wants to know how we can help YOUR farm and family grow further. Share your thoughts with Farm & Family editor astewart@farmmedia.com

The post Farm & Family – April 3 edition appeared first on Country Guide.

“Both the market and policy volatility are unprecedented since at least (the) Second World War. It is not only unprecedented for Canada, but for the world,” says Larry Martin, principal of Dr. Larry Martin & Associates, an agri-food consulting firm.

Market influences

In a chart showing monthly ranges of U.S. corn futures contract prices since 1974, Martin points out larger differences from the peaks to the troughs during periods over approximately the last 15 years. Variations within a month are larger as well.

“This is a major part of the more volatile environment in which farmers operate,” he says, but notes that there remain periods of time — such as 2013 to 2020 — when they stabilize again. “We can put any commodity chart up and get a similar result.”

Martin cites increasing incomes of populations around the world as a major cause of market volatility, as well as a trend to trade commodities on a just-in-time basis.

The variation in canola prices over the last five years shows significantly greater volatility for farmers, according to Derek Brewin, professor and head of the University of Manitoba’s agribusiness and agricultural economics department.

He notes canola started in a trough around $450 per tonne ($10.23 per bushel) in the summer of 2019. It then climbed up to $1,200 per tonne ($27.27 per bushel) in May 2022. It’s moved around a lot since then, but generally on a downward trend until recently, Brewin says.

“But volatility does not always suggest an equal chance for devastating troughs and bonanza price spikes,” he says. “As a storable good, most grains and oilseeds see persistent price floors.”

If prices fall too low, buyers start to worry that producers will switch their land to other uses, Brewin says.

“But we occasionally see large crop failures on larger areas — North America in 2021 — and we get concern(ed) about supplies that identify consumers willing to pay much more than they normally do when they are just attracting supplies from the least demanding buyer that sets that floor price over time.”

Brewin says that the low prices of the summer of 2025 represented net losses to the average Manitoba farmer, and that current prices likely are a major relief. Drought concerns could send prices rising again, but a bumper crop could push them back down to last year’s lows, he says.

Crop price spikes damage livestock in the opposite direction, Brewin says.

“Every crop price spike represents a cost spike to the feed sector. I think they face a floor much lower than crops — especially if the herd is on a shrinking trend,” he explains. “When herds are shrinking, it represents a number of farmers forced out of business. We have not seen cropland abandoned the way beef herds have been dropping.”

Broken trade rules

Governments breaking trade rules they’d previously agreed to are also contributing to price volatility.

“Government actions are caused by politicians who either don’t understand or don’t care about the consequences of their actions,” Martin says.

He says countries agree to rules under the WTO and then break them, pointing to India as a notable offender “opening up trade when prices are high, then closing it when they fall. Canadian pulse growers felt that one.”

Canada is not innocent, nor is the U.S. — even before Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office.

“Biden and Trudeau broke all the rules on dumping when they shut off Chinese exports of steel, aluminum and EVs,” Martin says.

The Donald, however, takes rule breaking to another level: “Trump does it virtually every day,” he says.

War, fuel and fertilizer

Trump joining Israel to attack Iran only added rocket fuel to an out-of-control tire fire.

“The Iran war is unfolding against a global trading system already strained by Trump’s tariff,” said global financial institution ING.

S&P Global Inc., the parent company of S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor’s), said the war raised “farm-to-fork food inflation risks on fuel, freight, fertilizer disruptions.”

As Laura Rance-Unger noted in her piece, “Iran war catches Prairie farmers in the geopolitical crossfire — again”, over 40 per cent of a grain farmer’s annual operating costs go to fertilizer and fuel, and the conflict has made a war zone out of the Strait of Hormuz, where about 20 per cent of the seaborne oil and up to one-third of global trade in urea passes through.

The effects on fertilizer purchases

Through anecdotal information he’s gathered from discussions with Manitoba input retailers, provincial farm management specialist Darren Bond has found 80 to 85 per cent of Manitoba producers have either purchased their fertilizer prior to the fighting or locked in the price, thus insulating them from the price increases associated with the Mideast conflict.

“However, the impact will most likely be felt in the fall 2026 fertilizer application period, especially if the conflict drags out for a longer period of time,” warns Bond.

Another risk is that producers won’t buy fertilizer this autumn in the hope prices will decrease over the winter, and delay application until spring 2027.

“This could severely stress the supply network, potentially causing supply issues,” Bond says.

Another risk is farmers slashing fertilizer applications due to high prices.

“Broad-based cuts to fertilizer could result in disappointing crop yields. That’s why it’s very important to soil test and apply appropriate amounts of fertilizer,” Bond emphasizes. “Protecting yield will be what pulls many producers successfully through these tighter times.”

The effects on investment and growth

Global volatility and uncertainty make it much harder to undertake business forecasting and cause more volatility in production margins, which thereby make debt servicing riskier, Martin says.

“More volatility in prices, margins and incomes means people will likely invest less and growth will slow,” he says.

This can come from either internal or external capital rationing: internally when producers feel they need a higher return on capital before investing because of the extra risks; externally when lenders or equity partners go through the same analysis and decide to extend less capital, Martin explains.

“It also results in much more mental and emotional stress, which can affect decision-making,” he adds.

What else can farmers do?

Among the ways farmers can help themselves is to become ever more savvy with modern farming contracts.

“Without the CWB, grain companies are increasingly able to take more advantage of farmers by offering inferior contract terms, duration, price, blending, etc.,” says James Nolan, a professor in the department of agricultural and resource economics at the University of Saskatchewan. “What this means is that in the post-CWB era, I wonder if farmers should also be taught how to negotiate over contracts, which is a skill unto itself that can be improved through exposure and teaching — which we really don’t do.”

Another area for farmers to concenrtate on: staying well informed about world events that can affect their margins.

“The world is now so well connected that farmers can no longer rely on local or regional information to support their decisions,” Nolan says. “They need to try to stay current with global news and try to stay ahead of all business reports that can be reasonably and logically tied to future demand for foods and commodities.”

He concedes that can be a lot of information to process “pushing the farming industry even more towards larger and more complex operations in equilibrium.”

“We still don’t really know what comprises the minimum efficient scale for Prairie farming. Right now, I wonder if this level of cost minimization for commodity farming now lies well beyond 25,000 acres,” Nolan says.

Finally — if possible — build a financial portfolio that includes the stocks of so-called “opponents,” such as railroads and/or grain companies, he says. Why not hedge your risks by supporting the business entities that share the pie with you, he asks.

The post Growing your farm business in an era of economic volatility appeared first on Country Guide.

In March 2020, Janis Harris finally took the leap. After more than a decade of slowly building a flower-growing side business, she left her job as an optician to run the farm full time.

Weeks later, the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down.

Instead of the fresh start she had imagined, Harris found herself navigating cancelled events and markets, shifting demand and an uncertain future. The experience became an unexpected crash course in resilience, and one that continues to shape how she runs her farm today.

Harris and her husband, Mark, own Harris Flower Farm, a fresh-cut flower operation located north of St. Thomas, Ont. Together they grow more than 40 varieties of flowers, including bulbs, annuals, perennials and flowering branches. Today the farm supplies seasonal cut flowers for farmers markets, online customers, weddings and local events from mid-February through December.

“In the beginning we started small by planting 3,000 gladioli bulbs,” Harris says. “Over time, we’ve expanded to nearly eight acres of flowers, along with a series of heated and unheated greenhouses.”

“A lot of things are out of our control, but there are always opportunities.”

Janis Harris

Before the pandemic, Harris sold most of her flowers through an on-farm flower cart, roadside stands and local farmers markets. She also provided arrangements and bouquets for weddings and had begun building a seasonal flower subscription.

But when COVID-19 hit, Harris, like many farmers and small business owners, had to rethink her entire business model. The lessons she learned, from diversifying sales channels to building stronger connections with fellow flower growers, are now helping her navigate a new era of political and economic uncertainty.

Farming in an uncertain environment

When shutdowns began in the spring of 2020, the timing couldn’t have been worse for a flower farm. “At the time, I had 25,000 tulips blooming in mid-March and nowhere to sell them,” Harris says. “I also had 30 weddings booked, and every one of them postponed to a later date.”

Harris knew she had two choices: close her doors and wait out the uncertainty while her flowers went to waste or get creative. She chose the latter.

Determined to find new markets for her blooms, Harris began exploring alternative sales channels. At the same time, she reached out to commercial flower growers who had lost their markets entirely when events and retail outlets shut down.

By partnering with fellow growers, Harris was able to combine her flowers with a wider variety of blooms to create affordable bouquets. She called them “cheer bouquets” and sold them at her local grocery store and through her website, offering local delivery. The response was immediate.

Each time Harris posted a new batch online the bouquets sold out within minutes. It quickly became clear that during a time of isolation and uncertainty flowers had taken on new meaning for many people.

The cheer bouquets not only helped Harris move her own flowers but also supported other growers. She featured the farmers from whom she sourced flowers on her social media channels, sharing their family photos and stories to raise awareness about the flower industry and the people working behind the scenes to keep it going through the pandemic. “I saw it as an opportunity to help my customers understand where flowers actually come from and who they are supporting when they purchase local, Ontario-grown flowers,” explains Harris.

Today, e-commerce represents 25 per cent of Harris’s business. She says that while she felt forced to move her business online during the pandemic, she quickly saw the value of the opportunity and has continued to build her online presence. “Today we are our own little flower shop,” says Harris. “Orders come in from all over the world, and we’ve expanded to serve events like funerals and birthdays.”

Despite the uncertainty and business challenges, 2020 turned out to be a great sales year for Harris because of the pivots she made. In addition to her new online sales channel, she was able to maintain her flower cart sales and even opened the farm up to welcome customers. On Mother’s Day weekend, cars lined the road leading to the farm as visitors waited their turn to enter, some for nearly an hour, to purchase flowers. Later that summer she also opened up the farm to visitors to purchase flowers and walk through the flower fields.

“We needed to figure out how to sell our flowers,” Harris says. “But in the process, we built a whole new customer following and gave people a chance to get outside and experience a little joy during a very difficult time.”

Adapting the farm’s business approach

The pandemic forced Harris to adapt quickly, but the lessons didn’t end when restrictions lifted. Today, as farmers and business owners face rising costs and ongoing economic uncertainty, many of the strategies she developed during that uncertainty are still guiding how the farm operates.

“I quickly learned that I can’t have all my eggs in one basket,” she quips. “I need multiple revenue streams and different ways to market my flowers. I also learned the importance of continuity and consistently showing up for customers who appreciate the stability and know they can rely on me.”

Harris says one of the biggest lessons from the pandemic was how much people value connection. “That’s something the pandemic really taught us,” she reflects. “And what better way to connect with someone than with flowers, or a visit to a flower farm?”

While interest in flowers and locally grown blooms surged during the pandemic, Harris says she’s uncertain how the current economic climate may affect sales this year. Drawing on lessons from that time, she’s already preparing to adapt by offering smaller, more affordable bouquets for customers watching their spending this year.

“I still need to sell flowers and maintain profitability, but if I can find ways to continue providing flowers to our customers, I will,” she says. Harris adds that she’s already ordering tulips in bulk to help keep costs down and plans to offer mixed bouquets with fewer premium blooms to keep the price of the flowers manageable for her customers.

Tariffs are also weighing on Harris and cutting into her bottom line. While she has shifted to sourcing as much as possible from Canadian suppliers, including plant plugs from New Brunswick instead of the U.S., some materials still need to come from south of the border. Between tariffs and the exchange rate, her margins are being squeezed.

Harris says she’s also drawing on lessons from the pandemic to become more resourceful on the farm. She’s saving more flower seeds to reduce her reliance on U.S. suppliers and looking for additional ways to control costs.

One of Harris’s ongoing challenges is learning when to say no. As a young farmer, especially while navigating the pandemic, she felt pressure to say yes to every opportunity to keep the business afloat. Now, however, she’s approaching the farm with a renewed focus on long-term sustainability. That means building a more manageable workload while still staying flexible and responsive to customers.

Six years after the world shut down, Harris still doesn’t know exactly what each season will bring. But she says the pandemic changed the way she approaches uncertainty and gave her confidence that whatever comes next the farm can adjust and keep growing.

“A lot of things are out of our control, but there are always opportunities,” Harris says. “Like any farm, there are good years and bad years. In the end, it all balances out, even during a global pandemic or economic uncertainty.”

The post Ontario flower farm keeps growing even through uncertainty appeared first on Country Guide.

Faced with higher living costs and changing lifestyles, consumers are eating out less, cooking more at home, replacing meals with snacks and putting a sharper focus on value and nutrition.

And for Canada’s farmers and agri-food sector, the changes bring both risks and opportunity.

Canada’s restaurant and food service sector is a $124-billion industry, which sources approximately 68 per cent of its food and beverage from domestic suppliers. When restaurant traffic slows, the impact is felt throughout the supply chain.

At the same time, experts say that evolving consumer habits are creating new demand for the products, production methods and innovation that the Canadian agri-food industry is uniquely positioned to offer.

Current trends

The most immediate change is happening in restaurants.

According to a recent report, three quarters of Canadians are eating out less often. The primary reason for this is economics, says Sara Hamdy, research analyst with Restaurants Canada.

“More than 40 per cent of Canadians just can’t afford to dine out month to month as much as they’d like to,” she says.

According to the same report, even higher-income households are cutting back.

“Canadians who are dining out once a week or more are shifting to … maybe two or three times a month rather than four times or more,” says Hamdy.

At the same time, restaurant operators are facing their own cost pressures, with food costs cited as a top concern for the year ahead, Hamdy says.

Another emerging trend for Canadian consumers is a rise in snacking. About 65 per cent of Canadians report replacing full meals with snacks at least once a month, according to the Restaurants Canada report — a trend driven by both rising food costs and busier lifestyles, says Hamdy.

“This is a trend that we noted in a way that Canadians are adjusting to the increase of cost. They’re just not able to afford a full meal anymore, so they’re cutting back into snacks.”

Younger consumers in particular are gravitating toward portable, lower-cost options that fit a “grab-and-go” routine, she says.

But these changing eating patterns have not affected consumers’ desire for value, which dominates Canadian food choices today, says Ashley Kanary, director of Global Agri-Food at Export Development Canada.

After the pandemic, many consumers returned to simpler eating habits and became more conscious of prices, he says.

“When people looked at ways to save money, food was one of the first things that came out pretty hot.”

However, at the same time, consumers didn’t want to cut back on quality or health, he says.

These factors combined helped fuel strong growth for private-label grocery products, which now rival or outperform national brands in quality while offering savings of 15-20 per cent.

“When I look at those trends, that has not slowed down at all,” Kanary says. “If anything, globally, private-label products are outpacing all branded product growth, no matter where you go.”

But value shopping also doesn’t mean consumers have stopped treating themselves, he says.

“Even as people tighten their budgets, the indulgence factor is still there. In private label, everybody’s raised their game, and those products are as good, or even sometimes better than the national brand themselves. People are saying: ‘If I can get something that tastes better for 20 per cent less, I’m absolutely okay with that.’”

Beyond affordability, nutrition trends also continue to shape consumer behaviour, he says, with one of the strongest long-term shifts favouring higher-protein foods.

The challenge now, he says, is raising the taste profile in high- and added-protein products. “The desire … is to get things to taste great,” Kanary says. “People have always struggled getting around the added taste and or bitterness that protein-added causes.”

One final trend with long-term implications is sustainability, Kanary says.

Retailers and food companies are increasingly expecting suppliers to meet environmental standards, from emissions reductions to compostable packaging, but without charging more for the associated products.

“Sustainability expectations are rising, but consumers aren’t willing to pay a premium for it,” he says.

“They’re actually saying: ‘I want you to become sustainable and don’t charge me extra for that. We just need you to get better and raise your game.’”

Canada’s advantages

Despite the constraints these evolving eating habits cause for food supplies and producers, Canada is well positioned to meet many evolving consumer expectations for food, specifically around protein, sustainability, value and convenience.

“We feel that protein overall is where it’s at and Canada has amazing strengths in protein,” Kanary says, mentioning Canada’s pulse, poultry, seafood and beef industry as examples of high-quality protein sources.

He also believes Canada could have a competitive advantage in terms of rising sustainability expectations — provided companies can deliver results without higher costs.

“There’s an opportunity for Canadian companies to be leaders in sustainability on a global scale and I believe Canada is really strong in this area,” he says. “The key is to keep that momentum going, but not at any cost.”

Changing eating habits are also driving demand for portable, convenient options that still deliver quality and nutrition, another area where Canada is gaining ground as our food manufacturing sector expands its role in value-added products.

Food and beverage processing is now Canada’s largest manufacturing industry, with shipments topping $156 billion in 2023, according to Statistics Canada. Much of that growth is coming from ready-to-eat and snack categories, while Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada reports rising exports of consumer-oriented products such as processed foods. This points to growing opportunity for Canada to capture more value beyond the farm gate while supplying the convenient, high-value foods today’s consumers want.

Going forward

Some of the current eating trends for Canadians — fewer restaurant visits and more snacking — may ease as household budgets recover.

But several underlying shifts appear more durable, including greater price sensitivity, demand for convenience and flexibility, stronger interest in protein and functional foods, and rising sustainability expectations.

For Canadian farmers and processors, the key takeaway is that demand is not shrinking, but it is changing. Growth opportunities are increasingly tied to value-added processing, efficient production. and the ability to supply ingredients that fit portable, affordable and nutritious food formats.

At the same time, Canada’s strengths in high-quality protein production, strong environmental performance and an expanding food manufacturing sector position the industry to compete in both domestic and export markets.

The pressure, however, will be on cost competitiveness. Consumers and retailers are expecting better performance on price, quality and sustainability at the same time, putting greater emphasis on efficiency and innovation throughout the supply chain.

The direction of demand may be shifting, but the long-term outlook for Canadian agriculture remains strong. The farms and agri-food businesses that succeed will be those that focus not only on production, but on understanding how and where their products fit into a food system that is becoming more value-driven, more convenience-focused and more closely tied to consumer expectations.

The post The changing landscape of Canadian food demand appeared first on Country Guide.

Trust, teamwork and resilience: three ingredients every farm family knows they need to run a farm. But wait until you read the whole extra level to which this Ontario farm brought these three critical elements in contributor Jeanine Moyer’s article about the Schneider family.

Something else we know we need, but as farmers and/or parents we often don’t get enough of — sleep! The Fit to Farm column offers tips and tricks for getting a better night’s sleep.

Since we’re on the topic of critical components of farming, what about farm finances? Many of you can find it a real drag, so Craig Macfie CPA, PAg has broken down farm budgeting into seven manageable steps.

And we’ll leave you with some comfort for the body and the soul: a recipe for chicken pot pie. Contributor dee Hobswan-Smith re-introduces us to this North American classic as she explores the work — in food and art — of famed chef Jacques Pépin in the First, We Eat column.

Farm families work together to break new ground and nurture growth. As each member grows, our Farm & Family team wants to know how we can help YOUR farm and family grow further. Share your thoughts with Farm & Family editor astewart@farmmedia.com

The post Farm & Family – March 27 edition appeared first on Country Guide.

Sara Chambers from Backswath Management recently contributed an article to our Farm & Family section titled ‘Moving the conversation about women in agriculture forward’. She writes, “What I find disappointing about many conversations around women in agriculture is that they don’t seem to be progressing beyond the idea of ‘equality’.” So, how can we “design workplaces that unlock the full potential of the people in them”? You’ll have to read her article to find out.

Our Ask a Lawyer column explored the Canada-China deal and what it means for Canadian farmers.

And the Fit to Farm column tells us: use or lose it when it comes to our mobility. As farmers, we might think we’re mobile enough on a daily basis, but as contributor Kathlyn Hossack points out, we can be a little too sedentary in the cold winter months and that will work to our disadvantage come busy springtime.

P.S.: If you’d like to read more about #womeninag, our October 2025 issue introduced readers to Elisabeth Burrows, a nut farmer and roaster in Fergus, Ont. Read her story to find out how her farm, and tongue-in-cheek business called Jewels Under the Kilt, are doing things differently.

Farm families work together to break new ground and nurture growth. As each member grows, our Farm & Family team wants to know how we can help YOUR farm and family grow further. Share your thoughts with Farm & Family editor astewart@farmmedia.com

The post Farm & Family – March 20 edition appeared first on Country Guide.

But the ongoing chronic labour shortage across the agriculture sector is making it increasingly difficult to find employees — and there are no signs that this deficit will let up any time soon.

The undersupply is aggravated by a lack of public transit, relatively low wages, a decreasing birth rate and an out-migration of youth from rural areas.

With a high rate of unemployment among those under 35, youth could help close the labour gap, but University of Guelph human resources professor Nita Chhinzer says there is a mismatch between their perception of agriculture and reality. She explains that this segment of the workforce isn’t enthused about manual labour and may shy away from jobs in agriculture believing that it’s only about physical work.

A move towards automation and mechanization in agriculture has helped to offset the labour shortage but Phyllis MacCallum, a program manager at the non-profit Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC), says this is only part of the solution. New technology creates a need for new skill sets which require up-skilling and re-skilling the current workforce and attracting people with entirely new skill sets to the sector.

She also acknowledges that some farms are unable to harness new technologies due to a lack of high-speed internet in some rural areas.

A lack of rural services also poses additional challenges for potential farm employees. “When young families are considering rural jobs they ask about houses, education, child care and medical services and these amenities are often lacking or non-existent,” explains MacCallum. In response, Chhinzer points out that some communities have formed coalitions to become “welcoming communities” that consider the whole package of a family’s needs.

However, advancements in technology are making agriculture attractive to several workers from other sectors, says MacCallum. By raising awareness of the prevalence of tech, automation, digitalization and AI used in agriculture, farms can draw from a larger pool of potential employees.

Her advice for the industry is to rebrand, to change the narrative and show the young demographic that agriculture can offer high-tech, environment-friendly and meaningful careers where you can build lasting friendships.

Generating interest among non-farmers

CAHRC’s Student Work Placement Program (SWPP) can make it easier for students from non-farm backgrounds to gain agricultural experience. “Closely connected to co-op programs, SWPP provides students with the opportunity to explore different career pathways and encourages employers to hire young people in their operations,” says MacCallum. She adds that many provinces also have funding to pay for training and onboarding new employees.

Another way youth from non-farm backgrounds are learning about jobs on today’s farms is through Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC). While the main focus of AITC is on ag literacy, executive director Denise Schmidt says this national charitable organization also aims to highlight careers in the diverse agri-food system.

In-class workshops and career fairs organized through AITC members in each province and territory show students the breadth of jobs across sectors while also demonstrating the kinds of skill sets that will be needed whether it’s software, accounting or equipment.

READ MORE: The case for hiring a full-time employee on your farm

In the past few years, AITC has also focused on informing school guidance counsellors of the opportunities available in agriculture.

While AITC isn’t involved in recruitment directly, Schmidt says they are always looking for volunteers to talk to students in schools and at career fairs to showcase careers in agriculture. “Our members across Canada are the storytellers and message holders,” she says.

Schmidt sees opportunities for the farm community to think outside the box when it comes to hiring. She explains that with Canada’s diverse immigration, many students are from cultures that have strong connections to agriculture. “How do we embrace that? What skill sets are those individuals bringing to our country that we can be utilizing?”

Pipelines of talent

ACCES Employment, a not-for-profit workforce planning organization, has developed a program to help employers in the fast-growing vertical farming sector meet their labour needs.

The Connecting to Careers in Agricultural Technology within Vertical Farming program helps jobseekers, many of whom are newcomers to Canada, obtain valuable Canadian experience and references. “And employers benefit from the expertise of internationally trained clients, who bring various perspectives and agricultural skills from abroad,” says Sue Sadler, senior vice-president of services and program innovation.

The program builds a pipeline of talent with relevant, hands-on skills that benefit both employers and job seekers, says Sadler, noting that employers have responded positively. “It’s a two-way win,” she says.

The 16-week, instructor-led program combines virtual learning with hands-on experiential learning at vertical farms. Graduates earn five Humber Polytechnic micro-credentials aligned with key industry roles.

To date, 120 clients have completed the program, with 60 securing employment or moving into improved roles. The program is delivered in partnership with Humber Polytechnic and CAHRC with funding from Upskill Canada (powered by Palette Skills) and the Government of Canada.

Sadler adds that the program can also support talent mobility, helping newcomers explore career opportunities outside their initial landing cities, including rural communities facing labour shortages.

In addition to the technical component, participants also receive industry mentoring and education that build essential communication, critical thinking and growth-mindset skills that are valued by employers.

While the focus of the program is on learning skills to work in vertical farming, Sadler adds that many competencies are transferable across controlled environment farming and related agri-tech roles.

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Leverage transferable skills

MacCallum says several cross-sectoral skills are in demand in agriculture, so look for transferable skills from other industries. “How can one set of skills be used across different sectors and how do skills from other industries apply to agriculture?”

Having a highly qualified person in your farm’s HR role will make it easier to find potential employees from other sectors and through non-traditional channels. Chhinzer recommends hiring someone who is tech savvy and knowledgeable in employment law. And a good HR professional will go where the youth are, for example, on social media or at associations, colleges and universities — not LinkedIn or Indeed. “They can make sure you are casting a wide net and avoid biases such as selecting on Anglo names only.”

Alternatively, if you have a good employee who lacks the necessary HR expertise, she recommends getting them the necessary training, such as micro-credentials in employment law.

One source for upgrading HR skills is a new program at the University of Guelph’s School of Continuing Studies (SCS), developed in collaboration with CAHRC. Designed to deliver practical, industry-informed HR training, the Certificate in People Management has an elective stream for agriculture and rural enterprises.

According to the university, learners gain essential HR knowledge for their business through a flexible, online asynchronous format (i.e., on your own schedule) that includes managing cultural and language diversity in rural teams.

Chhinzer suggests that a farm may have more success by recruiting later (e.g., April) when students who haven’t yet found positions will be less choosy and more willing to try something different.

Chronic labour shortages won’t be solved any time soon but looking farther afield for potential employees could help you find the hands you’re looking for.

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