Farmer in blue jeans and a hoodie walking toward a red combine.

Great farm leaders have dirt under their fingernails

Summer Series: Agriculture has had its share of great leaders. But what happens to the industry when the leadership pool starts to dry up?

Reading Time: 2 minutes I don’t believe that leaders are born. I believe they are made. I also believe that we are on the cusp of losing a significant amount of leadership in agriculture.  Canadian and U.S. farmer demographics indicate that approximately 65 per cent of the industry is in the exit strategy stage. We are about to lose […] Read more

Two couples walking beside a corn field

Taming monsters: When farm succession rears its head

Summer Series: With today’s access to capital and cost of land, many farms have grown beyond the point of “built to sell.” What happens when infrastructure and land holdings are too big for an exit strategy?

Reading Time: 2 minutes Family farms were less complex when I was growing up and farming in the 1980s through the early 2000s.  Decisions were made in thousands of dollars, not millions. Summers were spent at the lake, not in the cab of a sprayer. It was a great way of life, one that shaped my attitudes and behaviours.  […] Read more


two farmers standing beside a canola field

The farmer’s playbook

Consider these plays to arrive, thrive and survive in 2025

Reading Time: 3 minutes Walmart turns over its on-shelf inventory 9.4 times every calendar year. But farmers only get one kick at the can. In fact, it has been said that over a farmer’s career many will only hit a home run about seven times. That means the variance for errors is very small, and the planning component in […] Read more