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Farm business

“She helped me to question a lot of the habits in our farming family lifestyle,” Will says of the therapist he eventually connected with. “Regular people don’t understand.”
Guide Business, Succession strategy

Farm succession — minus the success

In today’s agriculture, there are plenty of positive stories about succession. So why highlight one of the nightmares? Because they do exist, and because they make us confront our assumptions about mental health

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Reading Time: 11 minutes Could your farm find its way out of this kind of mess? It’s a very real question for some Canadian farms — maybe even one on your road — and because of that, and also because of the sensitivities involved, Country Guide has agreed to use false names for the very real members of the […] Read more
“Every situation is unique,” says lawyer Shaun Wetmore. “There’s no prescribed formula for selling a farm.”
Guide Business, Succession strategy

Do you have an exit strategy for your farm?

For whatever reason, if your farm isn’t going to get transferred to your family’s next generation, these are big questions you need to get started on

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Reading Time: 7 minutes In many cases, Canadian farms are being transferred to the next generation. But that’s “many,” not “all.” And if you’re in a situation where transition is unclear, or if you know your final plan will be to sell out, it’s time to get thinking about your options for building a farm exit plan. What does […] Read more
Andy Junkin.
Guide Business, Management

How to become the partner everyone wants to work with

On today’s larger farms, the partners are up close. They’re your relatives. They farm out of the same yard. Shouldn’t they recognize what you bring to the farm? Maybe not, says cross-border farm advisor Andy Junkin

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Reading Time: 3 minutes Maybe your partner is your parent, in-law, sibling, cousin or friend. It doesn’t matter. At some point, says advisor Andy Junkin, there is bound to be tension in the relationship. In fact, if you dig into any farm, that kind of tension is something you’re bound to see, which explains why he calls his service […] Read more
“I want to be prepared to make decisions instead of being dragged kicking and screaming into the future,” Froese says. On this farm, it’s his management mission.
Guide Business

The view at year 8

Like so many young farmers, what Dane Froese wants isn’t so different from what his parents wanted at his age. But can he find his way there in farming today?

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Reading Time: 14 minutes Growing up, I always admired the work that Dad did on the farm,” says Dane Froese, 30 years old and eight years into his plan to become a fourth-generation farmer at Winkler, an hour and a half south of Winnipeg. Froese doesn’t round off the edges. He knows what he wants, And he knows it […] Read more
It’s important to ask yourself how you want to fill your days, and what will be fulfilling for you.
Guide Life, Succession strategy

The way to retire

Especially on the farm, planning for a happy retirement really does a make a difference

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Reading Time: 7 minutes Here’s an unpopular question. When are you going to retire from the farm? This is often a taboo topic because it’s hard to know when you’ll be ready, and just as hard, if not harder, to know what it means to retire. To a farmer, retirement could read like a death sentence. Or does it […] Read more
Farmers face a number of uncontrollable factors that can lead to high rates of depression, anxiety, even suicide. (Eclipse_images/E+/Getty Images)
General

Free mental health training, workshops offered for farmers

Do More Ag Foundation expands programming available

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Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers seeking mental health support will have access to free training and community workshops for the fourth year in a row via the Do More Agriculture Foundation (DMAF) and Farm Credit Canada (FCC). Factors such as financial insecurity, uncontrollable weather and isolating working conditions contribute to high depression, anxiety and suicide rates among farmers, according […] Read more
“One of the toughest things for many parents is to look at their son or daughter as a business partner. We don’t want to see our children get hurt or make mistakes, but we want our business partners to show up and do the right things for the business…” – Kent Gulash, succession coach.
Guide Business, Succession strategy

Have a decade-long plan for farm succession

Every farm has at least 10 jobs that take 10 years to learn. No wonder transitions are so complicated

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Reading Time: 8 minutes Whatever word you use — whether you call it wisdom or if you think of it as insight — it may always be essential for running any farm but it is doubly important during transition.  That’s “doubly” for a good reason, because not only does the senior generation need insight into the transition process if […] Read more
“That is the biggest lie in agriculture,” Froese says of the promise some parents are making. “I tell people who are hearing this to run in the other direction.”
Guide Business, Succession strategy

A new path to the farm’s future

Today’s farm families think in terms of transition, not succession, and they’re setting new goal posts too

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Reading Time: 8 minutes The questions may be the same, but the tone has changed, says Kent Gulash, longtime farm family coach from Saskatoon. When families meet their transition advisors these days, they’re coming from a different place. “That’s because the dynamics around the value of farms have changed,” Gulash says. There’s trepidation now, he explains. Will the farm’s […] Read more
Wrecked structures float in the water in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona at Rose Blanche, N.L., about 45 km east of Port aux Basques, on Sept. 25, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/John Morris)
General, Reuters, Weather

After Fiona, climate experts urge Canada to fix flagship adaptation strategy

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Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canada’s first national climate adaptation strategy needs to be improved to include near-term targets and specific solutions ahead of its November release to mitigate worsening global warming impacts, experts advising the government told Reuters in the wake of devastation caused by storm Fiona. Fiona, one of the worst storms to ever hit Canada, […] Read more
The incoming farming generation needs to be reminded Canada’s agriculture industry is a strong one.
Guide Business, Succession strategy

Young and bankable

Are you in your teens or 20s, and want to farm? It’s time to show you’re ready for the discipline of financial management

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Growing numbers of family farms across Canada have started on the transition journey. They’re actively working at creating pathways that will give the next generation their shot at calling themselves farmers. For tons of these hopeful farmers, though, there’s a big question. How can they become bankable?  Sure, Mom and Dad may think they are […] Read more

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