Reading Time: 3 minutes In the final instalment of our Making the Future series Country Guide spoke with Beth Martel from St. Leon, Man. (Click here to read part one, part two, part three and part four.) Beth Martel grew up in Wales, U.K., and moved with her family to Manitoba in 2001, where they purchased a mixed cattle […] Read more
Manitoba agronomist and farmer reflects on career in agriculture
Summer Series 'Making the Future': Exploring the perspectives and experiences of young up-and-comers in various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry
Making space for a new generation of ideas in Canadian agriculture
Summer Series 'Making the Future': Exploring the perspectives and experiences of young up-and-comers in various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry
Reading Time: 4 minutes In part four of our Making the Future series Country Guide spoke with Eugénie Officer from Hemmingford, Que. (Read part one here, part two here and part three here.) Officer grew up on a small apple farm in southwestern Quebec. After studying history and agriculture at the University of Guelph, she joined Farm Credit Canada […] Read more
Encouraging people from outside agriculture to come on in
Summer Series 'Making the future': Exploring the perspectives and experiences of young up-and-comers in various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry
Reading Time: 4 minutes In part three of our Making the Future series, Country Guide spoke with Emily McGovern from South Surrey, B.C. (Read part one, here.) McGovern, 24, works on developing special content for marketing projects for Glacier FarmMedia, the parent company of Country Guide. She has a BA in linguistics and publishing from Simon Fraser University and […] Read more
Youth focused on keeping Quebec’s dairy industry strong
Summer Series 'Making the Future': Exploring the perspectives and experiences of young up-and-comers in various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry
Reading Time: 3 minutes In part two of our Making the Future series, Country Guide spoke with Béatrice Neveu from Rawdon, Que. (Read part one, here.) Twenty-two-year-old Neveu is a dairy farmer who milks 60 (mostly) Jersey cows alongside her dad, Steven. After completing the three-year Farm Management and Technology program at Macdonald College in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., she returned […] Read more
Youth motivated to find answers to today’s agricultural challenges
Summer Series 'Making the future': Exploring the perspectives and experiences of young up-and-comers in various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry
Reading Time: 4 minutes This is the first in a series of articles exploring the perspectives and experiences of young people who are finding their passion, flexing their skills and contributing their insights and innovations to various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry. They shared with Country Guide what excites them about the industry, what they think about its future […] Read more
Riding the tariff rollercoaster
What are producers doing to minimize the risk created by ongoing trade uncertainty?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers are accustomed to roller-coaster years. But the current geopolitical windstorm is something else entirely. On his cattle operation near Birtle, Man., Tyler Fulton is making good use of livestock price insurance and has filed his annual application for AgriStability, a margin-based, federal business risk management (BRM) program that helps Canadian producers manage large income […] Read more
Producers aren’t panicking over tariffs and trade threats
Tariffs & Trade: In the face of extreme market uncertainty, protectionist tariffs and geopolitical risks from around the world, Canadian producers aren’t rushing to change their crop and farm plans for the upcoming season — but they may put some major purchases on hold
Reading Time: 6 minutes The Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA) surveyed its members this spring to get a sense of how trade uncertainty was affecting their decisions. “While trade is certainly weighing heavily on them it’s not the only factor. There are many factors that go into considering what producers choose to seed each year,” says Delaney Ross Burtnack, […] Read more
Build your farm with these entrepreneurial skills
Summer Series: Today’s farm owners need to be on top of their game like never before — and it all starts with the right skills
Reading Time: 9 minutes “Farming is an important, low-margin business that has got to be fine-tuned like a guitar to make beautiful music.” This insight comes from Kim McConnell, someone who knows about business success — and how to make that beautiful music. After a long career in the agriculture industry, the former founder of AdFarm is still mentoring […] Read more
Alternative financing options to cash flow your farm business
These days farmers have a lot more options when seeking alternative lending arrangements for farm business projects
Reading Time: 7 minutes As land values and input costs continue to rise, alternative lending is becoming more common. Farmers are looking for more creative and flexible options to finance their business expansion, transition or diversification projects. Country Guide explored some of the options available with the proviso that there is no one-size-fits-all-solution, just as there is no one-size, […] Read more
Alternative lending options for farm businesses
Previously often perceived as a last resort, alternative lending options can help farm operators navigate short-term challenges and get back to their long-term plan
Reading Time: 6 minutes Alternative lending has had a bit of a bad rap in the past. Alternative lending is a term for non-traditional methods or channels that finance businesses outside of the traditional finance system, such as banks. The past decade has seen an increase in the number of alternative financing options designed to meet each farm operation’s […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
