Reading Time: 6 minutes Let’s imagine you have just come back to the family farm. You have completed your diploma or degree, your head is full of ideas, your energy is overflowing, and you are absolutely itching to sit down and have a conversation with Mom and Dad about when and how you are going to take over the […] Read more
Summer Series: Coming home to farm
[Make It Count] Don’t expect the keys to be waiting, warns Andy Caygeon Junkin. Instead, carve out a path to self-improvement
Summer Series: ‘Scale up your food ideas!’
[Make it Count] Is the time right to take your big idea to a food development centre? Today’s commodity prices may make this the best year ever to future-proof your farm
Reading Time: 12 minutes Could that idea that you’ve got buzzing around in the back of your head grow into a major commercial success if you took it to a food development centre? Who knows? And how much it would cost? There’s a lot to learn about Canada’s food development centres, but the fact is, few of our farmers […] Read more
Summer Series: The learning curve of farm diversification
[Make it Count] Change is certain. Now, these two farms leverage it to diversify and grow their farms even more
Reading Time: 6 minutes The reasons farms diversify are as varied as the types of farms. The options are equally numerous. Maybe it’s to enhance or grow the operation or to add more income streams. Or the owners come across an opportunity too good to turn down. So, how does someone decide when to diversify and what option to […] Read more
Summer Series: The dark market of farmland rentals
[Land] It’s not getting any easier to follow the market for this key farm expense
Reading Time: 5 minutes Somehow, how farmland rental rates get set remains one of the mysteries of the universe despite being so hotly debated in social media. Whether you’re a renter or a landlord, everyone is endlessly fishing for details about what the neighbour is charging or paying, although it’s easier to crack a bank vault than pry that […] Read more
Summer Series: Business on the ground
[Land] With these land prices, can young farmers hope to ever write a sensible business plan? Maybe, but it’ll take innovative thinking
Reading Time: 6 minutes It’s a daunting mix for young farmers. Land prices are soaring, production costs are climbing, interest rates are uncertain. And that’s not to mention the mix of international politics, market volatility and weather woes that are breeding black swans at historic rates. With 2024 almost here, it’s hard to be any age. But how would […] Read more
Summer Series: In search of bargain farmland
[Land] Are there still any great deals on Canadian farmland? Where are they, and what’s the catch?
Reading Time: 12 minutes On the surface, the news isn’t great for farmers looking to expand. Everywhere you look, it’s a seller’s market. The law of supply-demand is working against you, with multiple bidders on practically every property. Technology seems like it’s against you too. Check out our accompanying story “New ways to buy and sell farmland”. The days […] Read more
Summer Series: Business connections
[Change Management] Planning a new venture? Keep close to other innovative and entrepreneurial minds
Reading Time: 5 minutes Of course farmers are proudly independent, and of course there are huge advantages in fixing your own problems and setting your own direction. But if diversification might be on your agenda, or if you’re dreaming of launching an innovative new business, there can be big costs too. Today, there’s even more proof that mixing with […] Read more
Summer Series: You forgot who?
[Change Management] When Mom and Dad feel they’re being pushed out of the way, all sorts of bad things happen
Reading Time: 5 minutes The Irish government thought it was such a great idea. The year was 2007, and in Ireland, as in the Canada of that time, few farms were setting up formal transition or succession plans. The Irish government had also begun asking itself what would happen when age or ill health finally pushes all those farmers […] Read more
Summer Series: Smarter training
[Change Management] Even the best employees are only as good as they know how
Reading Time: 6 minutes Training new and existing employees about the ever-changing tasks on the farm is essential if you hope to build and maintain a great farm team. But how much should you invest in training? Are you already there, or could your farm make big strides in its efficiency if you stepped up your training initiatives? Such […] Read more
Summer Series: Long-distance farming
[Change Management] For Michael Carter, when a family can make the right changes at home, their odds of success with expanding across provincial borders and hundreds of kms away go up and up
Reading Time: 9 minutes The idea sounds right for the times. If you can’t expand at home, either because land is so expensive or because there just isn’t any for sale, look further afield. Maybe two hours away, maybe four, maybe even in a different province and so far away you basically have to set up a whole new […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
