Reading Time: 6 minutes At Prairie Gardens & Adventure Farm a half hour north of Edmonton, 80 per cent of the family’s farm revenue used to come from commodity sales and 20 per cent from agri-tourism. Now, those numbers have flipped with agri-tourism bringing in the bulk of the revenue for their northern Alberta farm. Owner Tam Andersen says […] Read more
An invitation for more guests
“Real farmers” may dismiss agri-tourism and U-pick farms, but with its helicopter packages, fine dining and revenue of $1,500 per customer in some of its ventures, this may be one farm you want to check out
And even more on the way
Farmers have a valuable story to tell, but tourism pro Celes Davar says they rarely know what that value is
Reading Time: 5 minutes They’ve never thought about it from the visitor’s perspective,” says Wolfville, N.S. sustainable tourism operator, Celes Davar, who helps launch new experiential on-farm businesses across the country. “But when I turn it around and say, ‘If you were going to Costa Rica tomorrow, would you want to meet someone who grows the cacao bean?’ Well, […] Read more
HR ideas right for 2023
Six progressive strategies to attract — and retain — the employees you need
Reading Time: 5 minutes Faced with a deepening labour shortage, farm businesses that tailor their jobs, their benefit packages and their work environments to what employees are seeking can expect more success and their choice of the best employees. The question is: is that a realistic goal? Clearly, the nature of farming does impose limitations on what can be […] Read more
Don’t hit send on that email yet!
Maybe YOU don’t need any advice on how and when to email. Probably it’s just all those other people who send their sloppy emails to you. If so, here’s what to tell them
Reading Time: 3 minutes Did you get the email? It seems we’re all guilty. We’re getting worse at email, not better. We send an email and then, when the recipient doesn’t understand what we’re saying, we blame THEM. Duh!? Or we send an email and only mean it to be a quick note but somehow it gets spun into […] Read more
Tunes and wooden spoons
Dishing out recipes, music and love, a Cape Bretoner shows how a social media presence can be good both for the heart and the business
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s the kind of good news story we could all use a little more of right now. Cape Breton Island’s Mary Janet MacDonald has brought hope and cheer to thousands during the COVID-19 pandemic through her love of cooking and people. Almost every single Sunday afternoon since the first pandemic restrictions were put in place […] Read more
Grow food anywhere
New Canadian startup Growcer already has 50 “vertical farms” in place in Canada. Get ready for a whole lot more
Reading Time: 5 minutes In Canada’s northern regions, where the growing season is so short it can seem non-existent in any agricultural sort of way, fresh food from California and Mexico is not only expensive due to the transportation costs; all too often, it is no longer fresh. After experiencing first-hand how the high cost of fresh, healthy food […] Read more
Bringing back civility
In a world that is losing its manners, the next step is yours
Reading Time: 5 minutes Incidents of road rage are up. So are aggressive speeding and dangerous driving. Meanwhile, politicians are receiving death threats, even in rural municipalities, and we see so much lashing out at one another on social media. Is incivility rampant in our society today? It can certainly feel that way. What happened to the good manners […] Read more
Get more resilient
By transforming adversity into resiliency, these strategies build a better you
Reading Time: 5 minutes During the pandemic, trauma counsellor Catherine Clark became intrigued by the idea of creating a Mental Health Resiliency Roadmap to help address the deep emotional pain, anxiety and burnout that families, businesses and communities were experiencing. Based on key findings in neural, cognitive and behavioural science, Clark wanted the resiliency roadmap to help individuals meet […] Read more
Do you have a plan to learn?
A systematic approach to continuous learning is strongly linked to higher farm success
Reading Time: 5 minutes The 2015 Dollars and Sense study by Farm Management Canada is still among the most comprehensive surveys to look at which farm practices in Canada increase a farm’s business success and by how much. Here are the practices. Which is the best sign that you’re firing on all cylinders? You have a written business plan. […] Read more
A tasty education
This Ontario farm family uses cooking classes to help close the consumer gap
Reading Time: 4 minutes With strong interest from the public in knowing more about where their food comes from, some farms are offering on-farm cooking classes. This past year Thames River Melons near Innerkip, Ont., began offering a Harvest Brunch Experience that is part tour, part workshop, part cooking class and part meal. “It is very interactive and is […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
