Reading Time: 9 minutes A gaggle in ball caps, T-shirts, jeans and flannel politely stumbled off the bus. They’re third-year students in the University of McGill’s farm management and technology program, and they were on a tour of Ontario farms. They stopped at mine to discuss business structure, succession and the future of agriculture. On closer look and listen, […] Read more
Young farmers talk about their future
We find out what these university students are thinking as they prepare to head home to the farm. They know their opportunities are great, but their challenges are humbling too
Who’s doing the books on your farm?
On your family farm, is it time to transfer the books from Mom to the next generation? These seven steps will help you put things right
Reading Time: 6 minutes Sometimes it’s a job that gets assigned by default. After all, how many farmers really want to volunteer for a job that involves sitting at a desk entering data, paying bills and sending out invoices? Sometimes, too, there can be an older generation that doesn’t want change. Managing the farm books is their last bastion […] Read more
Generating farm independence
Sometimes, the best solution can be for the next generation to build a farm of their own
Reading Time: 10 minutes The roads here are typical for this part of rural Ontario, running between neighbouring towns. On either side, at the end of long maple-sided lanes are well-kept dairy, beef and crop farms divided into 100-acre parcels, with red and black barns stamped proudly with farm names, usually family names. Occasionally too a lane is overgrown, […] Read more
Plan before you retire
Whether you’re selling or if you’re transferring farm assets to the next generation, tax-smart retirement takes planning… and time
Reading Time: 10 minutes In 2011, 48 per cent of Canada’s farmers were 55 years old or older. Five years earlier, the number had only been 41 per cent. If you draw a straight line, that means 55 per cent of farmers are now 55 or older. And it also means our median age is approaching 65! Whether that’s […] Read more
Orchard’s business success inspired by Disney
Andrew and Jennifer Lovell turned this small U-pick into a thriving farm market and entertainment destination, using the magic of Disney’s marketing psychology
Reading Time: 9 minutes Although neither of them had been raised on a farm, Andrew and Jennifer Lovell bought the shares of a farm corporation four years ago. The farm was a small orchard near Keswick Ridge, a half-hour west of Fredericton, N.B., and when they took over, it was only 37 acres of apple trees, a quarter acre […] Read more
Liberals boost tax on quota
Planning to sell quota that is held in a corporation? Get some strategic tax planning, quick
Reading Time: 3 minutes Not surprisingly, the national media focused on proposals like the new tax-free Canada Child Benefit program when the Justin Trudeau government presented its first federal budget back in March. Buried underneath all the feel-good news, however, were some potentially painful changes to Eligible Capital Property (ECP) tax rules for incorporated businesses. Common examples of ECP […] Read more
Cleaning up sweat equity
It used to show you were committed to farming. Now it’s a dangerous source of controversy on more Canadian farms
Reading Time: 11 minutes At his financial office in Stettler, Alta., Peter Boys reaches for stark language to make his point. “Slavery is alive and well on farms in the Prairies,” Boys says. Boys is referring to the practice of farmers not paying equitable wages to their children working on their farms, often under the promise of future ownership… […] Read more
Outlook for a Niagara vineyard
With high-tech advisers like Craig Wismer, it turns out farmers and cityfolk can learn to live side by side after all
Reading Time: 8 minutes Craig Wismer hops out of his pickup at one of the 30 or so vineyards he manages in the Niagara Peninsula. Below him, rows of grape vines fill Niagara’s Vineland, serving up a panoramic view with a gleaming Lake Ontario. Niagara Falls and its river are on the eastern horizon, in the west are Hamilton’s […] Read more
Getting onboard with your employees
The most valuable time you spend with any employee may be their first few hours on the job
Reading Time: 5 minutes Whew! After months of advertising, searching and interviewing, you’ve finally found and hired someone to help on your farm. As processes go, this one has been stressful, time-consuming, and more than a little frustrating. Nor is that surprising. The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council found in 2014 that our farms have a job vacancy rate […] Read more
Common-sense thoughts on divorce
Divorce doesn’t have to get ugly, or to destroy farms and people, but that’s what it’s doing to more farming couples
Reading Time: 8 minutes Divorce is one of the biggest threats to farm family legacy,” says Manitoba-based farm adviser and coach Elaine Froese. “We need to start talking more about how to prevent the breakups and create more makeups.” Farms and divorce can be a toxic mixture. Tradition, culture, religion, isolation, community gossip, strong families — they all come […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
