Reading Time: 8 minutes Country Guide compares notes with two insiders in Canada’s booming farm advisory sector. As they tell us, there’s a lot to keep up with. There are two reasons why Canadian farmers are now using more business services than they did five or 10 years ago — and neither of them is going away any time […] Read more
Service please
Are you keeping up with the level of business service your neighbours are getting from their accountants and advisors?
The road ahead
Our panel tackles the question: What are the big farm business risks for the next five to 10 years — and what skills, actions and mindsets will be critical in taking them on?
Reading Time: 9 minutes Picture yourself driving in traffic. Then, you begin noticing that the traffic is increasing, not just in the number of vehicles around you but also in the speed they are travelling at. Some of the traffic rules seem to be changing too, and the driver controls in your vehicle are all new and confusing as […] Read more
Capture the off-farm bonus
Working off-farm before joining the family farm may never have been more valuable
Reading Time: 7 minutes Country Guide had a simple question to ask farmers who began their careers by working off-farm after graduation. Should today’s young farmers start the same way, with off-farm employment? The eager and unanimous “yes” is still echoing down the halls. But is it right? Or are they farmers only justifying the choice they made? Well, […] Read more
Is it time to rethink your farm debt?
Debt has soared with farm income. For most farms, that’s good. But what about yours?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Over the past decade, the consensus among Canada’s ag economists has been clear. Yes, farmers have accumulated more debt than ever. But the debt load is manageable. There’s no looming crisis. Now, however, with the prospect of a series of modest interest rate hikes, can we still be so complacent? First, let’s look at the […] Read more
‘Super Keen’
Ag education is hot, and enrolment is booming from coast to coast
Reading Time: 8 minutes It’s inspiring for anyone in agriculture to talk to the principals and deans at ag-related academic institutions across the country. More than ever in history, young Canadians are pursuing careers in ag. In a nutshell, it’s because there are jobs in agriculture after school — good jobs that offer exciting and interesting career paths for […] Read more
Business risk management options for Canadian farmers in 2018
Government farm business risk programs are evolving, especially in Quebec
Reading Time: 7 minutes As farmers know well, risks to financial success in any year are many. Weather, crop and livestock health issues, market factors and spiking input costs are perennial threats, and they are all as large or larger than ever in 2018. It’s why business risk management (BRM) programs are so very important. Federally, AgriStability provides support […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
