Reading Time: 4 minutes When federal and provincial governments unveiled their individualized slates of Growing Forward 2 offerings earlier this year, most farmers were busy in their fields. Now, with harvest more or less complete, more and more growers are showing interest in taking advantage of the numerous farm management and marketing courses on tap. Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett says farm education has been positioned as […] Read more
GF2 in the classroom
With GF2 grants, more farmers across the country are signing up for winter study
Wrong choice
As farming gets more complex, what if you fear your son or daughter isn’t up to the job?
Reading Time: 6 minutes One of the hardest truths about farming, like most professions, is that some people just aren’t cut out for the work. Worse, it isn’t always clear from an early age who has the makings of a good farmer and who hasn’t, which puts some farm parents in the awkward position of having built up the […] Read more
Summer business checklist
Reading Time: 8 minutes You use the winter to get ready for spring. Now, use the summer to get ready for the winter business season. With a sigh of relief mixed with equal parts of pride and exhaustion, you climb down from the tractor seat. The fertilizer is spread, the crop is growing and the weeds are under control. […] Read more
The unexpected house guest
Reading Time: 4 minutes Donna heard a knock at the door and frenzied shouting. “Are you home? Can we come in?” Donna’s daughter-in-law Elaine was carrying her toddler under her arm. The little boy looked happy to see his grandma, but Elaine was red-faced and frantic. “That chimney! We’ll get rabies! In our own home.” Donna had never seen […] Read more
The unexpected house guest
Reading Time: 4 minutes Donna heard a knock at the door and frenzied shouting. “Are you home? Can we come in?” Donna’s daughter-in-law Elaine was carrying her toddler under her arm. The little boy looked happy to see his grandma, but Elaine was red-faced and frantic. “That chimney! We’ll get rabies! In our own home.” Donna had never seen […] Read more
Build a stronger bank relationship
A strong relationship with your bank and your banker is an important part of a successful farm operation. I sometimes hear farmers mention they were disappointed with the level or with the speed of service they received from their banker. This sentiment can arise for many reasons, but there are measures you can undertake to cultivate a high-quality relationship, and together with your banker, ensure a rewarding relationship in the future.
Reading Time: 3 minutes Solicit feedback Your banker likely deals with many farmers and accordingly has expertise in areas such as business structure, forecasting, and succession planning. In addition, banks have other well-established resources including investment specialists, cash management specialists, and estate planners who can help you with your business plans and future success. Asking questions and soliciting feedback will […] Read moreSticking together
Sometimes the only way to actually make the most challenging of succession dreams come true may be to commit to the oldest of values
Reading Time: 9 minutes Most farmers hope to pass their farm to the next generation. Not many consider how to set up not one, not two, but five sons in dairy farming. That was the prospect facing Jake and Frederika Wesselius in the early 1980s. They were dairy farming in Friesland, a northern province in the Netherlands, and with […] Read moreEmotions to the rescue
Inevitably, when farms expand to include multiple family members, family dynamics change. Before we talk about the stresses and strains that this can produce, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fundamental positives that this change brings to the farm.
Reading Time: 8 minutes “If there is stress and conflict in your family, it will almost inevitably trace its roots back to a lack of effective communication at some point in the family system,” says Richard Cressman. Cressman, a six-foot tall former dairy farmer from New Hamburg, Ont. isn’t the sort of person you’d expect to be talking about […] Read moreSticking together
Sometimes the only way to actually make the most challenging of succession dreams come true may be to commit to the oldest of values
Reading Time: 9 minutes Most farmers hope to pass their farm to the next generation. Not many consider how to set up not one, not two, but five sons in dairy farming. That was the prospect facing Jake and Frederika Wesselius in the early 1980s. They were dairy farming in Friesland, a northern province in the Netherlands, and with […] Read moreDiversify or expand?
Reading Time: 7 minutes It was the winter farm meeting season of 2006 and I had just driven through a blizzard to find myself hearing the same words. “Think outside the box,” I was told yet again. “Look to new paradigms.” “Don’t keep expanding production of what you already know how to do,” speaker after speaker told us. “Diversify, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
