Reading Time: 5 minutes A business plan is like a road map for your farm. You can plan your route, set a destination and track progress. But without a map or a plan, how does a farm business owner know what success looks like, or even what you’re capable of achieving? Or, most importantly, how do you know when […] Read more
Finance 101 – What is a business plan?
There’s more at stake this winter, and more than ever to gain
Ontario growers bring ‘sun and fun’ to agri-tourism market
Could agri-tourism boost your farm income? The Davis family has some advice — “You gotta love, love, love people.”
Reading Time: 5 minutes Agri-tourism is trending. For farmers, agri-tourism is a way to diversify, to create new revenue streams and to capture more profit by selling direct to consumers without necessarily having to expand the land base. It can also be a way to make room for additional family members to join the farm business, easing the transition […] Read more
Discovering ways that your farm can do more
The value-added journey can look like a fast track to success. But as roads go, this one may not be so straight or level
Reading Time: 15 minutes When they start planning for transition to the next generation, many family farms recognize they have to increase revenue if the farm is going to support everyone full-time. But in today’s agriculture, the farm can’t always turn to the old tried-and-true solution, adding acres. So it’s little wonder they begin asking how they might raise […] Read more
Diversifying the farm helps build a new business
Who has time to manage a bigger, more diversified farm? The Boldts found how to say, “We do!”
Reading Time: 11 minutes When Melanie Boldt pivoted her business from a grain farm to the first vertically integrated meat producer and market in Saskatchewan, she took a “just do it” approach and leaned into the challenge to change, diversify and expand her family farm. That was 26 years ago, and looking back, Boldt says she’s not sure she […] Read more
‘Partner up’ to help diversify your farm
Rosemary Wotske and Cam Beard need new rules. Do you?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farm partnerships are taking a new direction today. Of course there are still traditional arrangements — formal or informal — between farmers, like those that share the cost of equipment, and there are contractual arrangements, too, like those between a crop processor and a farmer delivering specific specs. More and more, though, farmers are partnering […] Read more
Legal considerations when transferring farm assets
Every farming operation is different and poses its unique challenges and considerations
Reading Time: 5 minutes The transferring of the land, buildings, equipment and quota that make up the farming operation can be thought of as the “meat and potatoes” of transition planning. Typically, once a plan has been developed for succession, there are assets that need to be transferred from one generation to the next. This can take the form […] Read more
The slow evolution toward real-time variable rate fertilizer
Variable rate fertilizer to apply the best rate for each acre has merit, but the cost and the hassle to make it work does not appeal to many farmers. The return does not seem to justify the work required. Can we change that with a real-time on-the-go system?
Reading Time: 5 minutes We need to hit the “easy button” on variable rate fertilizer and move away from the default blanket application. But for that to happen, the variable rate (VR) system must become as seamless and easy as the blanket application. And more profitable. One can envision an on-the-go system like optical weed spraying, except in this […] Read more
Sharing your farm’s story with the next generation
Share your farm’s history and stories about your own early years to give succession a boost
Reading Time: 5 minutes Transitioning the farm to the next generation is an emotionally loaded process. Sometimes, not surprisingly, it can get bogged down and no one really knows what to do to get things moving again. This is a pattern Humboldt, Sask. farm succession coach Patti Durand has ofen seen when working with 350 farm families from across […] Read more
Setting up your retirement goals
Decisions to make in your 40s, 50s and 60s
Reading Time: 5 minutes Every farmer will need an exit strategy, whether you’re looking forward to it or not. Age, health and family issues won’t wait forever. Besides, being proactive now can save tons of stress and family conflict and potentially thousands of dollars later on. It will make you happier too. So isn’t that worth thinking about? In […] Read more
How to get started on your farm succession plan
Reading Time: 4 minutes We see a lot of farming clients who, at the end of a call, will say, “We should get together to discuss our succession plan sometime.” But actually getting started requires intentional effort from the decision makers in the family. The first step is making the succession plan a priority. Succession planning is more than […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
