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Author Archives Tom Button

Tom Button
Columns, Opinion

Editor’s Note: An opportunity to move on for 2022

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Reading Time: 2 minutes It isn’t the only lesson from 2021, but it’s potentially among the most important: Our farm organizations will only grow more valuable the further we get into this decade. I pointed out once before in this space that there are two questions we almost never ask in our Country Guide interviews. What farm organizations are […] Read more
Tom Button
Columns, Opinion

Editor’s Note: Getting real about what 2021 means

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Reading Time: 2 minutes The worst thing about agriculture is that it goes in cycles. Or so an uncle used to say. “And the worst thing about cycles,” he said, “is that wherever you are in one, it feels like it’s going to stay that way forever.”  So maybe Uncle Lyle wasn’t as scientific as Bonnie Whitehead, who launches […] Read more
Tom Button
Columns, Opinion

Editor’s Note: Farmers to the rescue

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Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada is hungry for heroes. Statues are tumbling, poverty is intractable, our country is more racist than we knew, politicians falter. Who can lead us to the Canada we dream of?  You can tell what people value because values are motivators. They show in what we pursue.  Do farmers value Canada?  There’s a better way […] Read more
Tom Button
Columns, Opinion

Editor’s Note: Can you see it from here?

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Reading Time: 2 minutes Farming is breaking through. It always used to be said — with justice — that most bad decisions on the farm get made in good times. Not anymore. In fact, it’s the exact opposite Of course, you can’t say anything in agriculture that’s absolutely universal. So, while I’m optimistic that on most farms the coming […] Read more
Tom Button
Columns, Opinion

Editor’s Note: The incredible summer of 2021

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Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s the way of things. A thought leads to a theory. An insight leads to a vision. And a great summer leads to an action plan. Welcome to a year like we’ve never seen before. We’ve always thought summer is for field work, winter is for business management. This year, more than ever, that’s changing. […] Read more
Tom Button
Columns, Opinion

Editor’s Note: The right year to celebrate

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Reading Time: 2 minutes As we get into spring, find some time for thinking and brainstorming how you can make 2021 a milestone year that your farm will long remember. It’s the right advice. Not every ag sector is having a banner year. And even within the grain and oilseed sector, not every farm is feeling on top of […] Read more
Tom Button
Columns, Opinion

Editor’s Note: Knowing the value of the job ahead

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Reading Time: 2 minutes Success at business is success at putting your values into action. In farming, that’s good for the world, and it’s going to continue that way as long as family farming survives. One of my personal distractions this spring will be planting sugar maples and white oaks that we’re acquiring with the help of the local […] Read more
Tom Button
Columns, Opinion

Editor’s Note: A bigger question than COVID-19

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Reading Time: 2 minutes Agriculture is racing into the future. We all agree on that. But what will farms look like in that future? And who will farm them? I can’t say for sure, and I don’t think you can either. Here’s an interesting assignment for a snowy March evening. Make a list of your current machinery inventory and […] Read more
Tom Button
Columns, Opinion

Editor’s Note: How good is the advice I’m getting?

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Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s a question we didn’t ask farm accountants when we asked them what traits separate their average from their above-average farm clients. The days of bookkeepers and cash accounting aren’t over, of course. Every farm has different needs. But accountants and accrual-based accounting are the new norm, and the transition has helped enable the professionalization […] Read more
Tom Button
Columns, Opinion

Editor’s Note: A motion that needs support

By
Reading Time: 2 minutes As farmers across the country churn their way through this winter’s virtual meeting season, here’s a proposal for adding a useful (and profitable) bit of debate. It’s way past time for more farm groups to start investing a slice of their research budgets into exploring the business questions that will be crucial to their members’ […] Read more

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