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Farm kids often get plenty of experience on the production side of the business, but aren’t taught about budgeting or financial statements.
Guide Business

How to make your kids more financially literate

Don’t overlook how powerful it is to teach your children about managing money on the farm

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Financial literacy is essential for everyone, but it is particularly critical for farmers. Defined as “the ability to use knowledge and skills to manage financial resources effectively for a lifetime of financial well-being,” it’s a must in modern agriculture. Parents agree. They want their children to be financially independent. Yet Stephanie Szusz, who works in […] Read more
Sixty per cent of men say that work affects their ability to get a proper night’s sleep.
Guide Life

Putting a spotlight on men’s health

Hey, Men! These small changes will boost your health, energy and fitness. Adopt them for yourself, and for your family too

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Reading Time: 5 minutes For many men, looking after their own health is far down on their list of priorities. Health care practitioners speculate as to why men don’t look after themselves. Men may not feel they have the time, they may think it’s a sign of weakness to seek medical attention, they may not understand the risks of […] Read more
Guide HR, Management

Dealing with problem employees effectively

Instead of firing them, use these tips to coach problem cases into good employees

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Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s getting tougher to find and keep good employees. Nor, by all indications, is the situation going to improve anytime soon. According to the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council’s newly released Labour Market Forecast for the next decade, farmers can expect an already tight labour market to get even tighter. According to the council’s survey […] Read more
A researcher and soon-to-be author wanted to know what’s getting in the way of healthier soil. What she heard from farmers, industry and academia is it’s not a lack of technology but a lack of political will and financial support.
Crops

Where Ontario’s soil health strategy falls short

Farmers understand the crucial role of soil health for feeding the world. So why is it such a struggle to get support for that goal?

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Reading Time: 6 minutes Last fall, Dr. Sarah Rotz, then working at the University of Guelph, wrote an article with Guelph crop scientist Dr. Ralph Martin and York University agri-food policy researcher Dr. Rod MacRae to draw attention to what they perceive as shortcomings in the Ontario government’s Soil Health Strategy. It’s a topic Rotz had been studying for […] Read more
Smartphones and apps can make our lives easier, but they can also ramp up our stress levels.
Guide Life

How to manage your smartphone before it manages you

Our devices can either enhance our lives or create endless frustration and confusion. Making the right choice isn’t that hard

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Reading Time: 5 minutes As a trend, decluttering has probably never been more popular. Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, has been translated into 30 languages and even spawned a Netflix series. And Kondo is only one of the dozens of decluttering and minimalist gurus who have acquired new celebrity status. While a life of rigid […] Read more
“Good retention starts with good recruiting. The challenge is finding people who are willing to be there for the right reasons…”
Guide HR, Management

Tapping into a new source of farm workers

Traditional labour supplies are running short. Why that may not be a bad thing

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Reading Time: 5 minutes With farms getting bigger and with rural populations getting smaller, it’s no surprise you’re having trouble finding local employees with the farm skills and the experience you want. That doesn’t mean you have no options, however. The solution may be to look beyond candidates with ag experience and to begin to look in other sectors […] Read more
When looking for a mentor, find someone who isn’t too busy and is a good listener.
Guide Business, Guide HR

Want to be a more successful farmer? Find a mentor

How you can harness the power of mentorship

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Research shows the five-year survival rate for small and medium enterprises jumps from fewer than half to more than 70 per cent if mentors are involved. That’s according to Virginia McGowan, a certified mentor who witnessed this powerful transformation while running a mentorship program for a group of 70 female entrepreneurs in Charlottetown, P.E.I. The […] Read more
The internet has made it more difficult than ever to separate what you should believe and what you should reject.
Guide Life

‘Learn to discern’ in the information age

Are you sure you’re wise enough to know what you can believe on the internet, and what you shouldn’t?

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Reading Time: 5 minutes We are living in the Information Age. We’ve created more information in the past few years than in all of human history, says neuroscientist Dr. Daniel Levitin in his book, A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age. In theory, the internet puts all this great material at our fingertips, but the […] Read more
Phone snubbing or “phubbing” is a term used to describe when someone glances at their phone while you are talking to them.
Guide Life

Get smarter with your smartphone

Your phone is engineered to be addictive. No wonder it pays to set your own rules

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Reading Time: 5 minutes There’s no doubt that smartphones are an incredible tool for farmers. We get the power of the internet in a device that fits in our pockets. With it comes the ability to check the weather, sell grain, listen to an audiobook, or identify a weed at the touch of our fingertips. Add in social media, […] Read more
“Creative thinking is like a muscle that needs to be flexed on a regular basis in order to remain strong. The more you flex it, the more you are able to problem solve on a daily basis and the higher your level of creativity.
Guide Life

How to strengthen your creativity muscle

Yes, you can become more creative, and more nimble as well. Then, both will help you meet the challenges you’ll face in 2019

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Reading Time: 5 minutes Every recent study on the future of work seems to highlight the growing need for creative thinking skills. With the fast pace of change, business leaders are telling us that a foundation in business basics is no longer enough. Soft skills like creativity and creative problem solving will be essential for adapting to the ever-changing […] Read more

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AGCanadaTV: In Case You Missed It – Your National Ag News Recap for the week ending October 11, 2019.

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