Reading Time: 5 minutes In some ways, of course, farming is unique. In other ways, though, it’s got the same concerns as every other business, because like other business owners, farmers must deal with various other businesses all through the year. What can farmers do to improve those business relationships, or at the very least to prevent hiccups in […] Read more
Raising your farm’s importance
Making your farm more valuable to your suppliers can move you a big step up the success ladder
Risk warning
Inside the campaign to get better risk management programs for Canada’s farmers
Reading Time: 8 minutes Ask Keith Currie where the biggest risk lies, and he’ll point to the sky. “We’re seeing much more severe weather systems, whether it’s cold snaps, dry snaps, wet snaps. The weather patterns are moving differently,” says Currie, who grows hay and sweet corn near Collingwood, Ont., where he is president of the Ontario Federation of […] Read more
A different school
For Vance Lester and Sue Echlin, getting a non-agricultural education proved a big help when they returned to the farm
Reading Time: 6 minutes Graduate degrees in ecology and international relations don’t seem the kind of education that would be likely to help on a Canadian farm. But that’s where we might be wrong. For Sue Echlin and Vance Lester, that kind of schooling has been instrumental in their launching a fruit-growing and winery business, and in keeping it […] Read more
Flood warning
Will Canada’s land market drown in a torrent of new listings as more farmers get to retirement age? The truth is… nobody knows
Reading Time: 9 minutes We’ve all heard the predictions. They say that with so many of our farmers reaching their 60s and 70s all at the same time, we’re soon going to see the biggest rush of land onto the market that this country has ever witnessed. Will it happen? Will the land market get flooded sometime in the […] Read more
After the CWB
Whether you farm in the West or East, looking at how Prairie farmers are managing their sales after five years on their own will make you a better marketer
Reading Time: 9 minutes Maybe you mourned its demise, or maybe you danced on its grave. Either way, five years after the federal government put the Canadian Wheat Board’s single desk six feet under, it’s clear there will be no resurrection. How have farmers adapted to marketing wheat without the single desk? Where are they excelling, and where not? […] Read more
The census mystery on Canadian farms
29,000 mid-career farms have disappeared in just five years. What happened?
Reading Time: 9 minutes For the most part, the 2016 Census of Agriculture was as unsurprising as most farmers might have expected. We already knew that farms are getting larger, and that farmers are getting older. But the census did reveal something striking — a shocking reduction in the number of mid-career farmers between the ages of 35 and […] Read more
A lesson in farming
At Lakeland College, an innovative student-managed farm is turning out business-minded young farmers ready for the job ahead
Reading Time: 10 minutes Nearly 10 years ago, April Thomi faced the same dilemma as many high school students the world over. She was trying to decide where to go to college. April knew she wanted to farm. She had grown up on the Stanko family farm in southern Alberta, where her family had raised cattle and still grew […] Read more
Four canola diseases to watch for
Be ready to recognize these major diseases in your canola crop this summer
Reading Time: 6 minutes Is that canola crop afflicted by blackleg, root rot, both, or something else entirely? It’s a messy question farmers and agronomists encounter every year. Presenters tried to untangle those problems at CanoLAB in Vermilion this winter. Here are four diseases to watch for in canola fields this summer, and tips on diagnosing them. 1. Blackleg […] Read more
Know your farm financial numbers
Which financial ratios could you be tracking this summer to make the best decisions this fall?
Reading Time: 8 minutes Farming is a tough business. Weather risk, volatile markets, potential trade issues, input costs, and the steep investment in land and equipment mean today’s farmers must have formidable management skills to weather the storms and grasp the opportunities. In that context, your financial numbers are a lot like the numbers you get from the field, […] Read more
The leader’s job
Summer Business: Boehringer Ingelheim’s Susan Blair shares how lessons from the farm help in the corporate world, and how lessons from the boardroom can make a big difference back on the farm
Reading Time: 7 minutes [Updated April 27, 2017] Susan Blair makes her point. An organization has a much better chance of success, she says, when leadership gives clear direction to their teams about what they’re working toward and how they’re expected to achieve it. But then she follows through, because in Blair’s view, that kind of success demands leaders […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
