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
When less is more in weed control
A study shows that soybean yields decline as soil nitrogen increases
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 plan for successful farm meetings
The Spurrs are driving even more growth and efficiency by continuing the family meetings that helped them get to a transition plan
Reading Time: 9 minutes The story gets repeated time and again. A farm family invests time and money in a professional farm advisor to help them sort out a transition plan and how to implement it. Finally, almost incredibly, after a series of family meetings that started out nervous but eventually get surprisingly productive, everybody gets on board with […] Read more
In the Men’s Sheds
Men’s Sheds are helping rewrite the old idea that farmers have nothing to look forward to in retirement
Reading Time: 9 minutes John Wiebe raised cattle for 45 years, growing grain with his two brothers at Amaranth, near Lake Manitoba. That part of his life was much like that of any other farmer. But for more than 30 years of it, Wiebe also got in the habit of spending any spare days at Minnedosa, a town of […] Read more
Prepping the next generation for success
Are they ready to take over the farm? Here’s how one firm says you can get them there
Reading Time: 6 minutes Any farm family going through the transition process will tell you it’s far from simple. There are so many moving parts. It takes time and energy to work out all the changing roles and the new responsibilities, and also to scrutinize the legal agreements and to figure how these are going to affect family dynamics […] Read more
Women get the job
The new hire may need smaller boots but she can certainly fill them, as the real-world experience on more and more Canadian farms is proving
Reading Time: 6 minutes If it has been a challenge to convince more women to be open to a job on the farm, it isn’t only because of the attitudes and biases that can seem — especially to non-farmers — to be inherent in agriculture itself; there are also a host of practical issues that any woman who is […] Read more
Finding your farm’s niche
In today’s farm economy, business advisors are hunting new investment opportunities for their farm clients. Here’s how one plans to find them
Reading Time: 5 minutes Let’s say you’re pretty content with the way things are. You feel reasonably successful and you’re at a stage in your farming life where you don’t feel any great need to expand the operation. The value of your assets — especially your land — has been increasing pretty impressively and your balance sheet is a […] Read more
All in it together
Canada’s next-gen farmers are evolving a management model that adapts to every scenario. Not sure? Well, check out this Vancouver farm
Reading Time: 11 minutes Travis Hopcott and his siblings Brad and Jennifer might tell you they have been flying pretty much by the seat of their pants since each of them came back to their family farm at various times over the past 20 years. That is sometimes how they have felt. But, in reality, what they have been […] Read more
Elevating the farm business
It’s the story of Canada’s young farmers. Crucial decisions at the start of their farm careers have enabled Michelle and Nick Hoffsuemmer to make even bigger decisions later on
Reading Time: 7 minutes Like other farmers who market and deliver their own grain, Nick Hoffsuemmer always knew a lot about contracts, delivery requirements, discounts, grades and all the assorted things that most farmers who sell their crops to the local elevator get to know. But Hoffsuemmer didn’t expect to end up getting into the elevator business. When he […] Read more
Is it better to acquire a nearby farm, or merge?
Because so many farms are incorporated today, the next time you expand you may actually need to be open to a merger. But, as BDO’s Kyle Lopez tells us below, it’s likely to be a merger with a very clear, very circumscribed role
Reading Time: 6 minutes Everyone knows what “acquisition” means. A neighbour’s farm comes up for sale, you pay the price, you own it. It’s yours. But what about “mergers.” In most business sectors, the two terms — “mergers and acquisitions”— always go hand in hand. Are mergers even happening in farming? The answer from Kyle Lopez, senior BDO tax […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
