Reading Time: 5 minutes If you’ve got a cell phone anywhere close to you as you read this, you’re part of the data revolution in agriculture, whether you realize it or not, and whether you want to be or not. That’s probably a good thing. Certainly, the potential benefits are amazing. “The smartphone is going to be one of […] Read more
Farming in 2030: Big data
The last time there was a change this big in farming, it was mechanization. The question is: are you open to exploring how it can work for you?
The overseas employee
If we look to 2030, where will we find our farm employees?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Agriculture is already looking outside the agricultural community — and in some cases outside the country — to recruit workers. That’s only going to intensify if, as expected, rural populations stagnate or decline, and if farms consolidate and rely more on hired employees. It’s also worth noting that 112,000 of today’s employees (37 per cent […] Read more
Farming in 2030: Managing risk
Innovative insurance companies reveal how on-farm data is leading to next-generation policies that increase liquidity and profitability
Reading Time: 6 minutes As farming gets ever more expensive and as margins get tighter, there’s less room for error, which means the need for risk management isn’t going away in the next 10 years. What will change, though, is the type of insurance products farmers will be able to buy, with innovations driven primarily by technology and by […] Read more
Changes in agriculture are coming your way
These production challenges mean we’ll all have to stay sharp through the 2020s
Reading Time: 4 minutes Just because we can predict many of the production challenges heading our way doesn’t mean they’ll be easier to avoid, or that they’ll be easier to manage. In fact, by the time the new decade starts winding down in 2030, Canadian producers will have their hands just as full as they are today, if not […] Read more
Getting inside a retiring farmer’s head
Knowing the questions that your older neighbours are asking themselves as they start winding down their farms could give you the inside track
Reading Time: 9 minutes Mom and Dad just had coffee with their neighbour, talking about how it’s time to start preparing for retirement. Not just thinking about it, but actually doing it. They’re only a fenceline apart, but they’re in very different situations, though, which for farmers in the area who want to expand could make all the difference. […] Read more
What the future farm could look like in 2030
Future farm: Maybe it seems more like fiction today, but every year brings this picture of the future closer
Reading Time: 6 minutes Big change is coming. In the words of Shrek, “Change is good, Donkey!” It’s also inevitable, which farmers probably know more than anyone else. There are, of course, differing opinions about what farming will look like 10 years from now. Will farms be larger? Probably. Will weather be more unpredictable? Almost certainly. Will technologies like […] Read more
Seeding soybeans into rye
Green growth in spring helps to manage excess moisture, provides early-season protection from soil erosion, and also suppresses weeds
Reading Time: 5 minutes Grain farmers across Western Canada are showing interest in cover crops, but few have taken the step, as many North Dakota farmers have, of green-seeding soybeans in the spring into a fall rye cover crop. “The context of green seeding is to push that shoulder season fallow period out of the rotation by using annuals […] Read more
Auger-steer invention drives farm family’s business success
Diversifying into manufacturing creates more opportunity for the Toews family, but there have been many lessons along the way
Reading Time: 12 minutes It was 2008 and things just weren’t working out for Bernie Toews. From his tractor cab, he’d tried again and again to manoeuvre an auger around a tight corner on the family farm near MacGregor, an hour and a half west of Winnipeg, and it just wasn’t going to happen. Now, Toews was backing the […] Read more
Investment model offers opportunity for farm expansion
Could Joelle Faulkner’s partnership concept work on your farm?
Reading Time: 9 minutes It’s a common scenario: Farmer Bill has been renting land from his neighbour for years but the time has come and he is ready to sell. He wants Bill to have first refusal on the land, but Bill has just financed a new barn and bought a new combine, so he’s too over-extended to raise […] Read more
Retired farmers show they have a lifetime to share
Support for these farmers stopped the moment they left the farm, until Jill Rennie developed this innovative dementia support group
Reading Time: 8 minutes Retiring from the farm can have a massive impact on farmers’ mental and physical health. It can seem the lucky ones are those who can still live on the farm site, do a few odd jobs, run some errands or help out at busy times. Indeed, the ones who end up moving away from the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
