Reading Time: 13 minutes All Canadians pay close attention to the calendar and clock, but no one more than the Canadian farmer, whose livelihood has always depended on the tactical use of limited hours, days and months. Now comes summer 2020, and on top of all the uncertainties of weather, pests and markets, there’s no end to the COVID-19 […] Read more
Summer days
On more farms like Wade Bleier’s, summer can’t just be about crops and livestock anymore. Those days had vanished even before COVID-19 arrived. Now the challenge is even greater. How will they use this summer to take back control?
Teamwork makes the dream work for this group of Alberta farmers
These five Alberta farms have built a co-op that reduces their costs, increases their efficiency, and gets them into markets they otherwise couldn’t tap. The big question is, could it work for you too?
Reading Time: 10 minutes For these five adventurous Alberta farmers, a co-op is more than a way to structure operations. It’s more, too, than the camaraderie and the mutual support they get from working together with the same goal in mind, important though that is. For this group, it’s also about profitability, and about efficiency, and about enhancing their […] Read more
Brother-sister team credit teamwork on their Sask. farm
As long as Mom and Dad are actively farming, it can be simple. But what about later? Here’s how Saskatchewan’s Jarid and Jody Berglund are working toward their shared vision
Reading Time: 8 minutes During their pre-school years, if they weren’t trying to help with chores, Jody Berglund and her brother Jarid were busy playing farm together. “I don’t ever recall playing with Barbie dolls as a little girl,” says Jody. “Jarid and I would constantly play farm; we had a wooden barn, we built corrals out of Jenga […] Read more
A food tour of Toronto’s Kensington Market
When city dwellers get curious about where their food comes from, they take tours like this one to Toronto’s Kensington Market. Country Guide sent writer Steven Biggs to buy a ticket and answer the question: Should a farmer go too?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Our tour guide is Leo Moncel, and as he looks over the English-Chinese menu, he calls out, “Does anyone have dietary restrictions?” In a restaurant like this after everything we’ve seen on the stands and in the windows of Toronto’s Kensington Market, it makes us wonder. What could he mean? It turns out it’s the […] Read more
After a decade in agriculture, these new farmers weigh in
Having completed their first decade, Adam and Amy Petherick, with son Lucas, take stock. They’ve met hopes, challenges, successes. What’s next?
Reading Time: 11 minutes About 2010, the tide turned. Or, the tides, with an “s.” Agriculture had finally left the gruelling 1990s behind, leading to an uptick in twenty-somethings with a realistic shot of making it on the farm. But it was also clear that this new generation was never going to start their careers the way their parents […] Read more
East coast ag has plenty of room for more
Opportunities are growing on Canada’s east coast, based on affordable land and some pretty sharp farm business concepts
Reading Time: 8 minutes The agri-food industry has been losing farmers for decades, yet that doesn’t distract most producers from doing the job they do, in spite of what federal Census of Agriculture numbers indicate. The fact is agriculture continues to drive excellence in quality, in volume and in encouraging investment in infrastructure and technology, even if the number […] Read more
‘Soap opera’ prenups
Marriage agreements built on fairness can be a legitimate risk management tool
Reading Time: 7 minutes Picture this. The bride, decked out in finery, arrives at the church on the morning of her wedding. As she reaches the church doors, a man in a suit blocks her way. In his hand is a prenuptial agreement ensuring she has no rights to the property of the farmer she’s marrying. If she wants […] Read more
Pooling resources
Three farms each faced its own reasons preventing it from making major investments for the future. Then they had a new idea
Reading Time: 5 minutes There can be points in a farming career where you’ve established a solid business but you hesitate to make any further major investments unless there is either a clear successor or a plan to transition out. That’s the point at which John Schenkels of Schenkels Farms Inc. in Miramichi, N.B., had found himself. Since taking […] Read more
Preparing the next generation to take over the farm
How can you be sure they’re ready for the responsibility of running the operation?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Transferring the farm to the next generation is a complicated affair that involves finances, tax implications, legal strategies and good communication among all those affected. With all those balls in the air, the one element that Mom and Dad often think about, but somehow don’t actually get serious about, is whether the next generation is […] Read more
The 10th generation farm
In central Nova Scotia, Cornwallis Farms has been in the same family for nine generations. So how are they planning for David’s arrival, and the start of a whole new chapter?
Reading Time: 8 minutes Thinking back to 2011, David Newcombe told his family that they’d missed a milestone on their farm — and a chance to throw a big party. But another chance will come. “In 2061 we’ll have a 300-year anniversary,” says Newcombe, now 28. That’s a lot of confidence, yet on this farm, you might say they’ve […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
