Reading Time: 3 minutes How can the incoming generation help farm transition be successful? Follow these top transition tips below!– April Stewart, Associate Editor Glacier FarmMedia – Transitioning management and ownership of a farm business from one generation to the next can present many challenges. While there are numerous resources to support farm founders in assessing their business and […] Read more
Summer Series: Top transition tips for young farmers
[Best Advice] How the next generation can help farm transition be successful
Summer Series: A practical guide to writing your farm business plan
[Best Advice] This eight-point plan can help put you on the right path
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farm business planning is always a popular topic of discussion among advisors and management gurus. But statistics still show a slow uptake by farmers. Those using a written business plan, however, are reaping the benefits. Follow the eight steps below to get started.– April Stewart, Associate Editor. If you’re an avid Country Guide reader, you […] Read more
Summer Series: It Pays to Listen Better
[Best Advice] Know somebody who’s missing out on great advice because they don’t hear what they’re told? Could it be you?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Being a good listener is harder than it sounds. And some of the ways we respond to others prevent us from being present and truly connecting with them. Active listening is a high-value risk management tool, partly because listening is such a big part of conflict resolution. The good news? With practice, you can learn […] Read more
Welcome to our Summer Series!
Reading Time: < 1 minute Are you headed to the field? So are we! Country Guide is all digital, all summer. We’ve got stories from farmers across the country who share their insights about how to meet the challenges and opportunities of today’s agriculture industry. We’ve got advice from Canada’s top ag experts on topics to grow your business. We’ll […] Read more
Summer Series: Advice for Young Farmers
[Best Advice] If there was one piece of advice you wish somebody had given you (and that you had listened to) when you were just starting out on the farm, what would that be?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Once they’ve been in the biz for a few years, some farmers wish they hadn’t followed certain advice. Others wish they had. And others are happy with what they’ve accomplished based on advice they’d still follow if they had to do it all again. Here, a few farmers share what they’ve learned and offer their […] Read more
Farmers are losing the perception battle on food prices
[Make It Count: The Battle] No wonder consumers are confused. One moment we say the carbon tax will drive up the cost of food. The next we say it can’t
Reading Time: 6 minutes Like many farmers I am worried about the the misunderstandings the general public has about farming and where their food comes from. This concern has prompted me to spend many hours in classrooms talking to students about agriculture. For a number of years, I was a regional co-ordinator for the classroom agriculture program arranging speakers […] Read more
Time to celebrate
Summer is the perfect opportunity to host an employee appreciation party
Reading Time: 4 minutes On a sunny June afternoon, productivity comes to a standstill at Big Marble Farms as more than 300 employees leave the offices, greenhouse and packhouse and spend several hours playing games, navigating obstacle courses, throwing axes and jumping in blowup castles, all as part of the annual Employee Appreciation Day at the farm. “A reduction […] Read more
Editor’s Note: A summer for decision-making
Reading Time: 2 minutes I admit I can hardly believe it. When I first signed on with Country Guide more than a decade ago, I used this space to ask a question that I honestly wondered about. The question? Can farmers grow their business productivity as fast as their crop yields? In fact, farmers have grown their professionalism at […] Read more
Joining forces for new innovations
[Make It Count: Machinery] When the big equipment brands need an R&D jolt, they go hunting for ideas like — maybe — that project in your shop
Reading Time: 7 minutes Alberta ranchers Austin and his father Larry Ruud came up with an idea for a new product, the way any farmer faced with making things work day in and day out might, and the product that resulted is compostable baler net wrap which solves the problem of plastic twine and net wrap lasting for years […] Read more
Editor’s Note: The character of change in agriculture
Reading Time: 2 minutes We like to draw straight lines. It’s nothing to apologize about. We all like to look around us at how things stand, then we latch onto what we see as the big trend lines and draw them out into the future, thinking that’s how to predict the world of 2030 or even 2050. It’s nothing […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
