Reading Time: 5 minutes Their names are widely known, including Wigmore Farms, Broadacre Agriculture, Big Sky Farms, BioExx Specialty Proteins, and others. They’re among the high-profile farms and agri-businesses that have shipwrecked in recent years and applied for creditor protection. Each has a story that’s unique, but their stories seem to share a lot of similarities too. The explanations […] Read more
Farm failures
Big bankruptcies make big headlines, but smaller farms are under pressure too
Are you a good leader on your farm?
Like never before, your farm needs new leadership for a new business environment. Are you getting the job done? Rate yourself on these five key leadership traits
Reading Time: 6 minutes Quick, name five strengths that farmers need in order to get their day’s work done. It’s simple, right? You need technological, financial, production, and mechanical skills, and of course, we should never forget hands-on experience. Now, just as fast, list five leadership skills that farmers need for success into the future… Not so easy, is […] Read more
Talking things out is the key to a successful farm
Guide Thrive 2015: It’s simple enough to avoid discussing the big things and the little things that really matter. It’s just that most farms will never really thrive until you do
Reading Time: 8 minutes Megan McKenzie has observed elections in Congo, she has documented human rights issues in Columbia and the Middle East, she has worked at a reconciliation centre in Ireland, and along the way she has earned a doctorate in conflict resolution and international peace studies, along with mediation training. All this despite growing up on a […] Read more
The critical role of cost control on the farm
Guide Thrive 2015: Upgrading your planning, tracking and benchmarking processes isn’t always easy, but it can put you in charge of your farm’s future
Reading Time: 5 minutes Forget good luck. As a strategy, it obviously has its weaknesses. Worse, it takes your eye off the factor that really makes a difference — how good you are at tracking and managing your costs. If there’s any luck involved in that, says Drew Fowler of Eyebrow, Sask., it’s a word that never comes to […] Read more
Are you a ‘one-man show?’
Most farmers are entitled to feel proud. But what happens when your ego won’t fit through the door anymore?
Reading Time: 3 minutes We were starting into a critical phase of succession planning on a family farm, and the farmer had something he wanted me to know. His son wasn’t cut from the same stuff that he was, Paul told me. “He will never be able to succeed like I have.” Paul’s pride, unfortunately, had reached an unhealthy […] Read more
The challenge of diversification
The odds that your diversification plan will succeed are just one in five. But you can stack the deck
Reading Time: 6 minutes For decades, on-farm diversification has been talked about, ruminated on, spit at and swallowed whole. We’ve seen underdogs become successes, and we’ve also seen outrageous failures, even when they had big government backing. At the same time, economies of scale have propelled non-diversified farms to unbelievable sizes, backed by the five-year bull market in grains. […] Read more
What students need for future success as farmers
Top ag educators tell us the good and the not so good they see in Canada’s next generation of farm hopefuls
Reading Time: 7 minutes The future stretches and sways like a Prairie grain field, endless and heavy with possibilities. Like storm clouds, though, threats and risks also gather. What strengths and skills will farmers need to succeed in the future we’re rushing toward? With the turnover between generations accelerating, it’s a question that is coming squarely into play on […] Read more
A new cow farm in Japan
Farmers like Yoshiaki Shimazaki are modernizing Japanese agriculture, but he knows they have a long way to go
Reading Time: 5 minutes In a country where agricultural self-sufficiency is low, and where the farming population is old, with few young people seeing a future for themselves on the farm, Yoshiaki Shimazaki decided that agriculture could actually be a great and rewarding opportunity. From a family operation of 80 dairy cows, 70 calves and 300 beef cows in […] Read more
Life insurance strategies for your farm
These 5 strategies can be serious winners -- but be prepared for some equally serious homework
Reading Time: 5 minutes If everything is tied up in fixed assets when a major change happens, even the best-managed farms can stumble and fall. Debts suddenly become unmanageable, family farms get bogged down in the mud of unachievable succession, and estates get devoured by tax liability. Setting up a rational way to deal with these situations ahead has […] Read more
Life insurance strategies
These five strategies can be serious winners for farm corporations. But be prepared to do some equally serious homework
Reading Time: 5 minutes If everything is tied up in fixed assets when a major change happens, even the best-managed farms can stumble and fall. Debts suddenly become unmanageable, family farms get bogged down in the mud of unachievable succession, and estates get devoured by tax liability. Setting up a rational way to deal with these situations ahead has some […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
