Reading Time: 4 minutes If the kids are expressing an interest in the farm or their answer to the question “Do you really want this opportunity?” is yes, then both kids and parents must be clear on how they can prove it. Follow this expert advice to get you started.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor An intergenerational farm transition […] Read more
Summer Series: Do the kids really want it?
[Leadership] If yes, the kids and their parents both have to be clear on how they can prove it
Summer Series: Is my kid a leader?
[Leadership] What does leadership potential look like?
Reading Time: 6 minutes What does leadership potential look like? Are there certain skills a parent should teach or encourage their kids to develop? And how can parents do that? Read or listen to this article to find out.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor It’s actually two questions. It isn’t just how much leadership potential have my kids got? […] Read more
Summer Series: Lessons for young farmers on farm transitions
[Best Advice] As they get going on their farm transition journey, there's something all young farmers have to learn
Reading Time: 7 minutes Where can young farmers turn for help to figure out which pieces of the leadership puzzle to learn and when? And on top of all the facts and processes you must master as you step into an on-farm leadership role, how can you accumulate enough of the right insights and skills required? These three young […] Read more
Summer Series: How fit is your farm business?
[Best Advice] Financial fluency helps the farm prepare for anything
Reading Time: 6 minutes Financial fluency can help your farm prepare for anything. To protect your business in unpredictable times it needs internal strength, but what does that look like? Here’s how to understand the dynamics of your business and to find out if it’s fit enough to handle risk.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor A growing number of […] Read more
Summer Series: How to prepare for business meetings
[Best Advice] Getting serious about family meetings is helping this farm score current and future gains
Reading Time: 6 minutes During family farm meetings it’s important for everyone to take off their family hat and address each other in a professional manner. Follow these tried-and-true tips and tricks for successful family business meetings. – April Stewart, CG Associate Editor At one of their first business meetings on their farm, Betty Green served coffee and cake […] Read more
Who owns the land?
Farms are consolidating, and non-farmers are getting aggressive
Reading Time: 5 minutes It isn’t always easy to get a clear picture of how the pattern of farmland ownership is changing across Canada, particularly in the Prairie provinces. In Alberta, land titles data is expensive to purchase and in Manitoba, the provincial government has to give permission for access, even for research purposes, and that can take several […] Read more
Choosing Canada
For these new immigrants, there’s no going back. Their future is here
Reading Time: 4 minutes It isn’t just the government red tape and the inevitable mountain of paperwork that comes with it that has driven some European farmers to Canada. It’s also the public’s negative perception of farmers and how it is fueling a lot of the regulations, especially around manure management, fertilizer use and animal welfare. “There is no […] Read more
The immigrant farm
Is another wave of foreign farmers headed for Canada?
Reading Time: 5 minutes [UPDATED: Nov. 21, 2023] Even into the early 2000s, Canadian real estate agents were doing impressive business flying cash-rich and expansion-minded European farmers west across the Atlantic to buy turnkey farms here at prices far cheaper than they could ever find at home. That was then. Today, the flow has slowed to a trickle, not […] Read more
When less is more in weed control
A study shows that soybean yields decline as soil nitrogen increases
Reading Time: 5 minutes We all know that canola likes a good shot of nitrogen. Unfortunately, that includes canola volunteers, and a study says you may be better off to starve them and let your soybeans compete on their own. Charles Geddes, research scientist of weed ecology and cropping systems at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research and Development […] Read more
Talking up the farm story
It’s called brand theory and it’s the cornerstone of marketing for businesses around the world. Now it turns out it works on the farm too
Reading Time: 8 minutes A brand isn’t a Nike swoosh. It’s what the Nike swoosh makes you think. On the farm, it isn’t a yellow deer jumping across a green background. It’s all the ideas — the thoughts, feelings and expectations — that that deer calls up. Few jobs are more studded with brands than farming. Farmers fill their […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
