Reading Time: 3 minutes Just under a year after Peepeekisis Cree Nation’s settlement with the Canadian government over the File Hills Colony forced farming scheme, the federal government has made a formal apology. Operating from 1898 to 1954, the File Hills Colony scheme involved what the government today describes as the “involuntary relocation” of graduates from residential schools and […] Read more
Feds apologize for Saskatchewan farming colony scheme
Apology comes year after settlement with Peepeekisis Cree Nation
Planning to grow your farm?
These eight steps led to success for a U.S. family that talks in terms of its great, great grandchildren
Reading Time: 10 minutes It was 1985 and Jerry Lorenzen wondered whether what he was looking at was an opportunity. Lorenzen was working as an animal feed salesperson in the U.S. Midwest, so every day he was driving past crops that were getting grown to feed livestock. And he had a question. With spiralling population growth, won’t we need […] Read more
Editor’s Note: Making up your mind in 2022
It’s what people who aren’t business leaders rarely understand. Leadership means knowing how to make big decisions when you don’t have full information, like this year
Reading Time: 2 minutes I have been asking myself this question all spring. I’m sure you have been too. Five years from now, when we look back at 2022, who are we going to say made the best decisions? Who pulled the right levers? What choices turned out to be the right decisions? Which turned out to be not […] Read more
On-boarding the kids
This summer is a great time to ask the next generation some smart questions
Reading Time: 6 minutes It’s an all-too-common scenario. The farm family sits down together around the kitchen table. It’s time to talk. Maybe you could even call it a meeting. Grandpa thinks it’s a bunch of hooey. No one ever had to sit and talk for hours in his day. If the kids had enough work to do, we […] Read more
Deciding on a charitable giving plan
Donation, bequest, endowment? Farm families can achieve a huge amount of good with their generosity, but be sure to plan it carefully
Reading Time: 6 minutes As more farm families get further into their transition and succession planning, charitable giving is becoming a critical part for many to incorporate into their plans. On more and more farms, in fact, questions surrounding meaningful donations and how to create impact are becoming cornerstone conversations for the family. “Farmers are deeply rooted in their […] Read more
Is a joint venture right for you?
On Canadian farms, and especially in succession planning, joint ventures are still uncommon. That may soon change, but it means you’ll have to wrap your head around these essential concepts
Reading Time: 10 minutes They aren’t going to work on every farm. Joint ventures are common in industries such as natural resources, energy and property development, but they haven’t yet found a real home in agriculture, and certainly not as a farm transition tool. With the price of farm assets such as land and equipment soaring, though, and with […] Read more
Joint venturers
Joint ventures rarely get used in today’s farm succession plans. These two producers call that a major missed opportunity
Reading Time: 11 minutes [UPDATED: Mar. 22, 2022] Doyle Wiebe expects to do a lot more golfing this summer than he did eight years ago, and he’s managing to find time for a lot of other activities too, like mentoring and consulting, that he much prefers over driving a tractor for hours at a time. In 2014, by contrast, […] Read more
Young, and (not) feeling stuck
You’ve gone back to the farm. You’re eager to make real decisions. You feel ready for it too, if only Mom and Dad would let you. So how do you convince them?
Reading Time: 8 minutes We begin with a happy story. It was 3 a.m. and 18-year-old Ryan Galbraith was sitting in a seeder in a field in the middle of Western Australia when he realized all he wanted was to be a farmer. “It was one of those moments — you’re just out there enjoying it, you’re tired but […] Read more
The Succession Advantage: Planning for the finish line
It's important to plan early and engage with a professional team
Reading Time: 3 minutes We wrap up The Succession Advantage with a final article about “The Finish Line.” At this point in the series, our succession plan is fairly well built. Along the way, we created family communication by aligning individual goals and visions; dove deep into farm financials and affordability; mapped the farm’s future through strategic business planning; […] Read more
How your farm’s numbers can help guide your dreams
Before jumping into transition planning, gather this information and have a conversation with your spouse
Reading Time: 3 minutes Many years ago, I worked under the late Andy Sirski at Grainews. He taught me to explain out loud how something worked before I wrote about it, how to write an interesting headline, and the difference between wondering and thinking. “Wondering doesn’t get you anywhere,” he used to say. Invariably these tools helped me focus […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
