Reading Time: 6 minutes When it comes to climate activists and farmers, the story can be a lot like a daytime soap opera. On the one hand there are the farmers who have been stewards of the land for such a long, long time. They’ve got this undeniable, fiery passion for the landscape they call home and for keeping […] Read more
Farmers, climate activists share a love of the land
Farmers and conservationists say they want the same thing – a healthy environment. And it’s beginning to look like they might be able to get along while they pursue that goal
Time for school?
Could an MBA or an advanced business program be worth squeezing into your schedule? Country Guide asked two recent graduates
Reading Time: 6 minutes Andrew Lovell and Andrea McKenna have a lot in common. They’re both farmers on Canada’s East Coast — Lovell in New Brunswick and McKenna on P.E.I. — and they’re both insanely busy. When Country Guide first reached Lovell, for instance, he hopped off his tractor and continued doing chores wearing a hands-free headset to keep […] Read more
A condiment with a dash of heat
How do you build a thriving business on a crop that consumers use a spoonful at a time?
Reading Time: 6 minutes In Ontario’s Norfolk County, horseradish is a lot like that gawky kid everyone knew in high school who came back from summer vacation one year suddenly transformed with muscles and a cool new look. Where did that come from? Overnight, he’d become a deal. Horseradish has been around forever too, although it’s been nearly 20 […] Read more
Turning Topsy right side up
What happens when a hippie commune learns that some strategic business skills could help it thrive?
Reading Time: 8 minutes When Topsy Farms started in 1971, the goal was simple. How could it need a complex business plan? Starting with five hippies, they were creating a commune on Amherst Island, just offshore in Lake Ontario west of Kingston. The goal was clear too — become a self-sustaining community, secluded from the outside world, a place […] Read more
The open road of culinary tourism
Rebecca Mackenzie sits exactly at the midpoint between farmers and consumers. Can she help bring everyone together?
Reading Time: 6 minutes [UPDATED: Mar. 23, 2021] The past year has shone a sometimes not very flattering light on Canada’s ailing food system, but it has also revealed new challenges and exciting opportunities to bring about long overdue changes for the farming and foodservice industry. For Rebecca Mackenzie, president and CEO of the Culinary Tourism Alliance, it’s time […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
