Reading Time: < 1 minute – From the article ‘The right business stuff’ in the October 2024 issue of Country Guide. Leadership / Embody the essence of leadership in everything you do, from strategic thinking and proactive planning to embracing self-care and empathy for yourself and others. Some farm management tasks can be contracted out, but you can’t outsource leadership. […] Read more
Seven steps to great farm management
The greatest challenge for this farm operation
Their business schedule and clear must-do’s drive farm growth
Reading Time: 5 minutes Finding the time is our greatest challenge,” Jennifer Peart acknowledges from their farm at Jerseyville, Ont., where she and husband, Charlie Anderson, are committed to making their business management as strong as their production capability. It isn’t easy. It isn’t simple. But the couple find they’re making gains by defining who is responsible for what, […] Read more
Summer Series: How these Ontario farmers are getting great at change
[Make it Count] Every new idea, challenge and decision is an opportunity to learn. Sharing the takeaways from those lessons will help strengthen and sustain Canada’s agriculture industry
Reading Time: 11 minutes What makes a farm business good at change? Country Guide spoke with three Ontario farms to find out how they meet the challenges of change and what lessons they’ve learned on the journeys to diversification and growth. Thatcher Farms Thatcher Farms was born out of necessity. Almost two decades ago, at a time when commodity […] Read more
Summer Series: What is an executor?
[Make It Count: Finance 101] What makes you so sure you’ve named the right person to make all those decisions for you when you’re no longer here to make them for yourself?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Simply put, an executor is a person you trust to carry out your wishes as you have designated them in your will, which could include the care of your children, dependants, assets and farm business after you die. Robert Graham, a lawyer who specializes in business and farm succession planning with Smith Valeriote Law Firm […] Read more
Summer Series: What is a cohabitation agreement?
[Change Management] Better ideas on prenups that will protect the farm from broken relationships
Reading Time: 4 minutes Although most of us know them as prenuptial, “prenup” or interspousal agreements, the legal term most often used in Canada is a cohabitation agreement. Within the Canadian legal system, a cohabitation agreement is used to describe a written contract between two people entering a common-law relationship or marriage. Other jurisdictions may use other terms, but […] Read more
Summer Series: Preparing a business plan for your farm
[Change Management] Whether the change you’re looking at is big or small, the experts insist a business plan will make it more successful
Reading Time: 5 minutes A business plan is like a road map for your farm. You can plan your route, set a destination and track progress. But without a map or a plan, how does a farm business owner know what success looks like? Or what you’re capable of achieving? And, most importantly, how do you decide which changes […] Read more
Summer Series: What is a legal trust?
[Leadership] A trust may be the right solution for your toughest succession and legacy issues, but proceed with care
Reading Time: 4 minutes There’s only so much time in a busy farm owner’s day. Here’s how can you help your farm manager develop their leadership skills, so you can focus on the big stuff.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor The easiest way to think of a trust is as a legal relationship between parties — a settlor, trustee […] Read more
Summer Series: Leadership skills key to farm success
[Leadership] Two farm families share how they came to see getting stronger at farm leadership as the key to their growth
Reading Time: 6 minutes Being your own boss, making your own decisions, reaping the rewards of your hard work. Self-employment has its perks as a farmer. But as every farmer also knows, self-employment has its risks and its downsides too. You’re the one who’s accountable, you’re the one who has to keep yourself motivated, you’re the one who’s always […] Read more
Summer Series: What is a joint venture?
[Best Advice] Practice becoming increasingly useful for getting the next generation started
Reading Time: 3 minutes A joint venture can be a great way to test a business relationship. It can also be a way to help the next generation get started. Follow this best advice for setting up and running a successful joint venture.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor Corporations, partnerships and joint ventures are the three most common business […] Read more
Summer Series: Advice for Young Farmers
[Best Advice] If there was one piece of advice you wish somebody had given you (and that you had listened to) when you were just starting out on the farm, what would that be?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Once they’ve been in the biz for a few years, some farmers wish they hadn’t followed certain advice. Others wish they had. And others are happy with what they’ve accomplished based on advice they’d still follow if they had to do it all again. Here, a few farmers share what they’ve learned and offer their […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
