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
Overcoming personal biases
You think you’re not biased. So put it to the test
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
New ways to buy and sell farmland
These options are putting a lot more power in the hands of sellers. They’re also changing how the real estate industry works
Reading Time: 7 minutes Today, farmers don’t buy land with a handshake over the fence, as Grandpa and Grandma, or even Dad and Mom might have done. Selling methods like sealed tenders and online auctions are becoming ever more prevalent, and the key is finding which one best fits the size, type and circumstance of the farming operation. “There […] Read more
Corporate diversity, equity and inclusion
A look at the decision-making inside a major international multinational as it gets serious about DEI. Can their ideas work on your farm, too?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Like many other high-level corporate leaders, when COVID-19 was starting to become a serious issue in Canada in the spring of 2020, Syngenta Canada president Trevor Heck was under pressure to put together a team to deal with the new and unprecedented realities unfurling every day. “At the time, I was just thinking about the […] Read more
A question for women in 2022
Gender issue? What gender issues? Hasn’t the battle already been fought and won?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Try it yourself. Check it out with women in agriculture who speak about gender issues in the industry. Find them informally via social media or look for them through an ag women’s organization, of which there are several across Canada today. Then ask them what kind of response they get when they talk about gender […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
