Reading Time: 5 minutes It begins with a little girl, her face splattered with freckles, ambling up a dirt lane on a Georgia farm where her ancestors first broke ground. On either side, rows and rows of peanuts defiantly poked through the sand to thrive under the southern sun. Inside the clapboard farmhouse at the end of the lane, […] Read more
The role ahead for women in agriculture
Unless farm women get more power and a bigger share of the farm voice, Krysta Harden believes agriculture will fail its greatest tests, feeding the globe and reconnecting with consumers. Summer, she says, is a time for change
Sexual harassment: Is your farm at risk?
The short answer is “yes,” but here’s how you can reduce your risks with a harassment policy that helps prevent unacceptable behaviours and their consequences
Reading Time: 5 minutes On the outside, everything seems wholesome and almost shiny. We run our family farms with respect and good will, focused on productivity and efficiency. In fact, as an industry, we’re so good at it, more farms are hiring non-family employees, and there’s increased gender and cultural diversity throughout the agricultural industry. That has got to […] Read more
Succession shocker
The percentage of farm families with a succession plan is going down. That’s right —DOWN! — even though those same families still see succession planning as crucial to success
Reading Time: 4 minutes The day I caught up with famed farm family coach, Elaine Froese, she had already had two conversations with families who cannot bring sibling partners to the table. Phrases like “avoidance of conflict,” “bullying” and “silence is a form of violence” tumble out of her. “Procrastination and conflict avoidance are the root of the issue […] Read more
Building a capital plan
The 10-year capital acquisition plan they’ve created for their farm gives the Semeniuks a decision-making boost, plus more resilience
Reading Time: 8 minutes In early October, Robert and Angela Semeniuk woke to deep snow blanketing their picturesque farm at Smoky Lake, north of Edmonton. Their hearts sank. Silence had descended on a scene that was supposed to be humming with harvest, leaving more than half of their canola in the field. But on that cold, grey fall morning, […] Read more
Living together, farming together
Common-law is the choice for more and more young farming couples
Reading Time: 11 minutes As Eric Walker tells me about his farm, there’s lots of talk about complex business structures and about his ambitious plans. And there’s lots of talk, too, about family, hope and love. “It’s been a constant whirlwind of expansion, a blur of building, and three babies… that’s on top of the three we already had,” […] Read more
Bounce back, don’t break
What makes some farms so resilient in tough economic times? Finally, this New Zealand research finds some answers
Reading Time: 6 minutes Australia and New Zealand have had their fair share of agricultural challenges. They’ve known fires, tsunamis and cyclones, to name a natural few, and they have suffered from the politics of export markets, not to mention supply-demand crashes in world prices for wool, beef and milk. And that’s without mentioning droughts which, according to Australia’s […] Read more
Resilience in the Midwest
Reading Time: 3 minutes Over his career as a professor at Virginia Tech University and as a farm economic guru, David Kohl has seen some epic farm failures. But he has also admired farmers who have survived and even thrived during tough times. With the recent drop in grain and oilseed prices, some midwestern farmers are once again treading […] Read more
Lead change, don’t just manage it
Book review: Leading Change by John P. Kotter
Reading Time: 4 minutes Leading Change John P. Kotter Harvard Business Review Press, 2012 Two decades ago, Harvard professor John Kotter revolutionized how we should think about change, and in the first edition of Leading Change, he laid out an eight-step process for how to transform a business. Although he mainly targets large organizations, Kotter’s thinking seems equally pertinent […] Read more
What bankers want to see when you go to the bank
Getting these documents ready before you meet the bank rep may mean more available financing with better terms
Reading Time: 4 minutes Typically banks review their clients’ financial statements annually as part of a credit review process. The goal is to understand the client’s ability to service debt and how this may have changed over the past year. “We want to help you manage your cash flow,” says plain speaking Tara Conway, BMO vice-president of commercial banking […] Read more
A shadow on land prices
Purdue University survey offers a stark look at farmland values south of the border
Reading Time: 10 minutes This past fall, harvest stumbled to a finish. In parts of Ontario, combines chewed through spindly, drought-stricken corn on the same days that Prairie farmers drove their machines into swathes that had been buried in snow. It was enough to make those sporadic reports of feedlots shutting down, U.S. crop farms going bankrupt, and Midwest […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
