Reading Time: 4 minutes For food entrepreneurs who pursue new market opportunities, there is no guarantee of success in a space where competition is fierce. Those most likely to succeed understand that beyond getting their product on the shelves, they have to get customers to notice and care about what they make and do. “We knew that one of […] Read more
10 years of change in 10 months
Getting involved at the farm level
Farm organizations sustain Canadian agriculture. They’re also where a whole lot of farmers are gaining leadership, management and decision-making skills. Should you join them?
Reading Time: 9 minutes As summer approaches and the pandemic is beginning to ease, it’s time to take stock. What got agriculture through the COVID-19 pandemic? Who kept things from falling off the rails? It turns out farm organizations played an enormous role. You probably know that already. Understandably, these groups invest heavily in making sure their members know […] Read more
Raising the steaks for a hometown business
Can it really make sense for beef producers like Jill and Vince Stevenson to open their own retail shop in town?
Reading Time: 8 minutes You might say that when Vince and Jill Stevenson decided it was time to steer their family’s southwestern Saskatchewan ranch in a new direction, they really went to town with the idea. The Stevensons are owners of Ranch House Meat Company, a built-from-scratch, 6,000-sq.-ft., full-service meat processing and retail store on Centre Street, Shaunavon, located […] Read more
Hospital food gets a local boost
Can local food create meaningful sales for farmers? Check out these institutional success stories
Reading Time: 7 minutes Putting the words “hospital” and “food” together in the same sentence doesn’t always spark much of an appetite. Mostly they conjure thoughts of a mediocre meal, something bland, tasteless and unimaginative. You might say the same thing about the way hospitals have procured their food too, with purchase systems that have been as bland, tasteless […] Read more
‘That will never work!’
Mark Brock was told it’s a waste of time for independent farmers to try to collaborate with other farmers. Then he did the research
Reading Time: 10 minutes Consolidation is the name of the game in Canadian business, and especially in Canadian agriculture. The pressure is on everywhere to grow bigger. If you’re a farmer, that means buying your neighbour’s land to grow your economy of scale, and it’s the same if you’re a processor, an input dealer, a chain of accountants or […] Read more
Goodbye to Canada’s ‘average’ farm
It used to be that one farm on a road was pretty much like every other. Not anymore
Reading Time: 9 minutes What does an average farm look like in today’s Canada. If there is such a thing these days, there’s a good chance it looks a lot more like Scott Beaton’s farm than you would ever have thought possible. Beaton didn’t grow up on a farm, or think he’d ever have one of his own, but […] Read more
Roots and branches
The popular idea is that farming is a closed shop: If you aren’t born on a farm, you will never farm. But it isn’t quite true
Reading Time: 12 minutes Unconventional stories are becoming conventional in today’s agriculture. In fact, they’re becoming surprisingly conventional. Yes, agriculture across the decades has always found unexpected ways to replenish itself. Still, the barriers to entry have never been as astronomic as they are today for anyone who isn’t among the fortunate few to have been born into long-established, […] Read more
From ‘no’ to ‘yes’
How one farmer and his financial advisor persevered to find a route out of financial disaster
Reading Time: 6 minutes American psychologist B.F. Skinner once said: A failure is not always a mistake. It may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying. This is a story about a farmer who never stopped trying, even as his finances went so horribly off track that he risked […] Read more
When farm financial pressures mount
Sleepless nights? Behind on your bills? Avoiding the banker? You aren’t alone, and there can be a path back to better times
Reading Time: 7 minutes Maybe Benjamin Franklin said it best. “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” If you find yourself in financial trouble, it’s smart to ask for help. Art Lange is president of AJL Consulting in Edmonton, and in an article from our October 2020 edition, he and an Alberta farm couple worked together to share […] Read more
Alberta farm builds labour diversity into its core
Is there a better way to find and retain farm employees in Canada’s tough market? Van Raay Paskal Farms figured there must be, with innovative thinking and a readiness to look to non-traditional sources
Reading Time: 9 minutes The sun is barely up but VRP Farms Ltd., a half hour north of Lethbridge, is already humming. Pen riders saddle their horses and barn labourers are shipping, sorting and processing. Feed drivers put their trucks in gear, operators of high hoes and manure trucks shuttle about the site, and truck drivers back up to […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
