Daily Network News

More News →

Farm business

For Joas and Lisa, a clear retirement goal provides a framework for decision-making all through their farming career.
Guide Business, Livestock

A retirement goal of Freedom 52

What’s the right age for Mom and Dad to step back? It might be a lot younger than we have traditionally thought

By
Reading Time: 9 minutes It is an early fall afternoon, and while their four young children bounce across this picturesque New Brunswick dairy farm, 35-year-old Joas van Oord and his wife Lisa talk about their dreams. In the barn, that same afternoon, the farm’s 58-year-old patriarch, Maarten van Oord shows off the farm’s new robotic milker, and as he […] Read more
For Beth Connery (centre), with Samantha and Chris, it’s been essential to recover from Doug’s death as farmers, and 
as family too.
Guide Business

After the farm tragedy…

It takes a combination of legal and financial preparedness on the one hand, and human understanding on the other to keep the farm together

By
Reading Time: 7 minutes The Connery family thought that it was probably more prepared than most farm families for succession, and in many ways it was. But no one anticipated the sudden death of its two principal farming partners, or that the farm business would transfer to a daughter-in-law. When brothers, Doug and Jeff Connery died within six months […] Read more
Amy Petherick.
Guide Business, Management

The young are on board, literally

In Ontario’s Northumberland County, young farmers make up the majority on many commodity and farm boards. Here’s how we do it

By
Reading Time: 5 minutes There’s nothing like an unexpected dinner invitation to get the attention of a person who is normally responsible for daily meal preparation. The invitation arrived by text, and it didn’t take long to figure out whether to accept. Accept first, I said. Ask questions later. When I did ask the question, I was right to […] Read more
Krahn (l) and Wiebe believe their approach could be adapted all across the country.
Crops, Guide Business

Not related, but farm hopeful gets all he needs

Dustin Krahn gets no land, no equipment and no pay — but thanks to farmer Ken Wiebe, he gets opportunity

By
Reading Time: 9 minutes You might call it a sort of succession plan in reverse. Young farmer Dustin Krahn isn’t related to Ken Wiebe, the established farmer who has found a way to help Dustin get a leg up. Meanwhile, though, Dustin is also helping Wiebe’s 22-year-old son, Zack, learn the ropes and get started in farming too. Are […] Read more
The farmer as CEO
Guide HR, Management

The farmer as CEO

AME Management: What roles and responsibilities must a farmer assume in order to be effective?

By
Reading Time: 3 minutes An Internet search will reveal several definitions of the roles and responsibilities for the chief executive officer (CEO) of a business. The degree of formality of the actual position and its title varies considerably from business to business, depending on size, complexity, and organizational preferences. Potential roles and responsibilities of the CEO are summarized below. […] Read more
Tom Button
Opinion

Editor’s Desk: A better marketing idea for agriculture

By
Reading Time: 2 minutes Marketing is in a class by itself. Nowhere else in agriculture is there so much more noise than information, or so many claims based on untested and untestable evidence. As a rule, of course, the entire financial and business ends of farming let us down in this regard, and I have complained in this space […] Read more
Sound accounting advice may help you make major donations with an affordable net cost to the farm.
Guide Business

Smart farm strategies for charitable giving

New tax laws and innovative financial strategies give you new ways to make donations with real impact

By
Reading Time: 5 minutes With fewer farmers facing an insatiable number of organizations needing time and money, the decision of how much to give to whom is getting tougher. What do you want your money to do? How much should you give and when? What are the tax benefits? For many farmers, there’s also the question of how best […] Read more
main street in a small town
Guide Life

Keeping small towns alive, building communities that thrive

Saving our small communities has less to do with keeping our kids at home than giving them reasons to return

By
Reading Time: 5 minutes Rural communities across Canada know the challenges all too well. Populations are shrinking, and services of all kinds are getting harder and harder to maintain, not only for businesses but also for new Canadians, the disabled, the elderly and those suffering from mental health challenges or addictions. It’s not all doom and gloom though. Doug […] Read more
farmers standing by grain bins
Crops, Guide Business

Five big ideas to help take your farm in the right direction

It's time to be a game changer. Choose the right business priorities and make your move

By
Reading Time: 11 minutes The year is at half-time, and you’re the coach. Most of the crop is in the ground, the spring rush is coming to an end, the team is winded. It’s a time when you can make a difference. You can be in charge; you can draw up new plays, analyze your strategy and motivate your […] Read more
The McGregor family of Braeside, Ontario
Crops, Fruit/Vegetables, Succession strategy

One Ontario family’s joint path to farm succession

“Succession planning here is like hitting a moving target,” says Jim McGregor, but it’s also the family’s greatest opportunity

By
Reading Time: 8 minutes A mile from the Ottawa River, the McGregor family has lived and farmed, and they have loved and built for five generations, to the point where their produce business has mushroomed to 15 stands, a pick-your-own business and four farmers’ markets. Theirs is a story about embracing change, and about how, in the midst of […] Read more

Latest Market News

More Market News →