Reading Time: 8 minutes One important MacNeill family value weaves through generations of this P.E.I. farm family: there’s nothing wrong with a good day’s work. Cows might come and go on this sixth-generation dairy farm and decades-worth of visitors have lived the farm life if only for a brief summer vacation in the on-farm cottages. Even hurricane Fiona left […] Read more
PEI farm plans for the future
Many factors go into planning how a farm operates day to day, year to year. What about generation to generation? This P.E.I. farm honours the past to plan for the future
Planning for 2025 and beyond
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farming is a complex business full of daily decisions with expensive consequences. Country Guide associate editor, April Stewart, sat down with Evan Shout, a.k.a. the Farmer Coach, for his thoughts and top tips on how farmers can prepare to make decisions not only for the coming year but for the next decade. Below is an […] Read more
Setting goals in the new year that can work
New year, new goals. Or maybe not. What keeps us from sticking to and achieving our goals?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Ah, the optimism a new year brings. An invisible line drawn in your mind’s eye between the last year and next as you flip open a fresh calendar. (Or, if you’re younger than me, scroll to the next month on your phone’s calendar app). Your eyes sparkle with eagerness, you drum your fingers in anticipation, […] Read more
The numbers you need to know when selling an agribusiness
Learn from an industry leader how to build and generate the total value of your farm. (Hint: it’s never only about the numbers)
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s not easy to sell a business that you’ve poured your heart and soul into. And selling an agribusiness isn’t as simple as selling a piece of equipment or land. Potential buyers must meet the owner’s criteria, often including that they must be a good bet to protect their legacy, which means they may also […] Read more
To debt, or not to debt
Debt is the big question as we head into 2025. Is more debt essential for farm success?
Reading Time: 8 minutes There are many pressures on the agriculture industry and its individual businesses. As Canadian growers and producers, our farms are expected to do more at every turn. Farms must maintain peak performance. That’s clear. And they must generate or leverage ahead-of-the-curve innovation and technology. But that’s just the start. They must also analyze and manage […] Read more
Turning tough farm conversations into soft landings
How can you discuss the things that matter most without everyone blowing their lids, and you blowing yours too?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Are you even a real farmer if you haven’t had any tough conversations on the farm? All kidding aside, running a business with family and often non-family employees can involve some difficult and emotionally charged conversations. Country Guide searched out three books written by professors, corporate trainers and members of the Harvard Negotiation Project for […] Read more
Bryt Farms positions itself for growth in dairy industry
Whether it’s a classic expansion or a leap into the unknown, the pressure is on
Reading Time: 6 minutes “So many people told us ‘You can’t do it’. I think that just lit a fire underneath us and made us work harder.” Which is what Dave and Jennifer Bryson of Dobbinton, Ont., have done, proving all the doubters wrong. But they did something else too. The Brysons developed a decision-making model that keeps them […] Read more
Summer Series: Win from the sidelines
[Land] The spike in farmland prices has boosted the equity of farmers all across Canada. We ask McGill economist Pascal Theriault, is this a historic opportunity?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Are farmers leveraging their new-found equity to generate new business opportunities or farm wealth? To explore what farmland values mean for farms and farming across Canada, Country Guide sat down with Pascal Thériault, agricultural economist at Macdonald Campus, McGill University and vice-president of Quebec’s Ordre des agronomes. Country Guide (CG): The specifics vary across the […] Read more
Summer Series: A ‘real’ solution for managing change
[Change Management] Resilient people don’t let their imaginations run away with them. They train themselves to see their problems as challenges, not worries, and they get real about fixing them
Reading Time: 5 minutes Change and challenge affect everyone differently. Even so, research by the American Psychological Association shows we can get better at handling life-changing and stressful situations over time. We can acquire coping skills, a.k.a. resilience. As farmers, we’ve experienced repeated setbacks and we’ve been able to explore our resilience boundaries over the last few years (COVID-19, […] Read more
Summer Series: What are they thinking?
[Change Management] Like the Munn-Venns, those new small-acreage farmers down your road may have a surprisingly sophisticated approach to decision-making
Reading Time: 11 minutes This isn’t a typical Country Guide scenario. Three years ago, Karri and Trefor Munn-Venn saw a 25-acre vineyard in Quebec’s picturesque Outaouais region and they bought it lock, stock and barrel — despite having zero farming experience. For established farmers, it could look as if the Munn-Venns had turned their backs on sensible decision-making the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
