Reading Time: 8 minutes There are multiple moving parts to any busy farm, and there have to be just as many to a sound HR plan too. You can pretty quickly run out of fingers if you try to count them. There’s recruitment, retention, training, evaluation … the list goes on and on. But that doesn’t mean HR has […] Read more
Keeping workers on the farm
Scientific HR really can help ensure your farm business has the people and skills it needs
A new way to build a farm
It’s called 'agritecture' and it’s quickly gaining attention. What if you could grow a crop in the concrete used to make buildings?
Reading Time: 5 minutes It seems like something you should be reading in a cheap sci-fi novel, not in a magazine for farmers, but this is how urbanites might grow their own food in future if one Mexican company has its way. Today, if you want to grow food in a city, you grow it beside or in between […] Read more
Building a knowledge base for your farm team
For today’s farmers, the top question to ask your farm business advisor may be, “Who else are we bringing in on my job?”
Reading Time: 6 minutes Independence has always had its limits. Farmers have always enlisted off-farm experts to help solve tough production issues, and they’ve always kept their ears open when they’ve met with their bookkeepers or bank managers. But times have sped up. Today’s farms, whether small, medium or large, are complex operations that require a team to help […] Read more
Overcoming personal biases
You think you’re not biased. So put it to the test
Reading Time: 3 minutes Do you stand with your arms crossed when you talk to an employee or family member about work? Do you ignore some people when they share ideas or contribute to a conversation? Are you cheerful when you say good morning to some work colleagues, but others not so much? These are all warning signs of […] Read more
Soil sisters
Guide Canada: When people assume that Jeanette Heffernan and Katie Sherratt are sisters, the pair don’t bother to correct them. They’ve learned it’s better to tackle one stereotype at a time
Reading Time: 8 minutes The two young women at Tipsy Willow Farm break a lot of preconceptions about farming. That’s true on many farms, of course, especially where the next generation is in their early twenties and they’re introducing new concepts to the family farm in order to launch their own farming careers. But it’s even more true here. […] Read more
Is a joint venture right for you?
On Canadian farms, and especially in succession planning, joint ventures are still uncommon. That may soon change, but it means you’ll have to wrap your head around these essential concepts
Reading Time: 10 minutes They aren’t going to work on every farm. Joint ventures are common in industries such as natural resources, energy and property development, but they haven’t yet found a real home in agriculture, and certainly not as a farm transition tool. With the price of farm assets such as land and equipment soaring, though, and with […] Read more
Farm advisors a growing trend
Farm advisors are already delivering big value to most farms. In fact, it’s growing year upon year
Reading Time: 4 minutes The number of farm advisors is growing all the time, which is probably a good thing given that over 150,000 Canadian farms still need to plan and execute a succession of some kind, whether it’s a transition to the next generation or outside the family. And the need for advice won’t stop there. Already, more […] Read more
Above board
Pay yourself, and put the numbers right from the start in your budgets. It’s better for you, and for the business too
Reading Time: 5 minutes The thing is, you’re going to eat anyway, and probably wear clothes too. When a farmer doesn’t build a salary into their business model, they’ll still spend money on their personal needs and desires. It’s just that the money gets sucked out some other way. Of course it’s an idea that can take some getting […] Read more
Quebec leads indoor urban agriculture trend
Guide Canada: LEDs plus cheap electricity opens new opportunities
Reading Time: 7 minutes Quebec is already a leader in urban agriculture. It has many small urban farms and a number of community-led rooftop gardens, and is home to the world’s first commercial rooftop greenhouse operation, Lufa Farms, which recently expanded into a new 163,000-square-foot greenhouse atop a former Sears warehouse in the St-Laurent area of Montreal. The Quebec […] Read more
Joint venturers
Joint ventures rarely get used in today’s farm succession plans. These two producers call that a major missed opportunity
Reading Time: 11 minutes [UPDATED: Mar. 22, 2022] Doyle Wiebe expects to do a lot more golfing this summer than he did eight years ago, and he’s managing to find time for a lot of other activities too, like mentoring and consulting, that he much prefers over driving a tractor for hours at a time. In 2014, by contrast, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
