Reading Time: 4 minutes It isn’t just the government red tape and the inevitable mountain of paperwork that comes with it that has driven some European farmers to Canada. It’s also the public’s negative perception of farmers and how it is fueling a lot of the regulations, especially around manure management, fertilizer use and animal welfare. “There is no […] Read more
Choosing Canada
For these new immigrants, there’s no going back. Their future is here
The immigrant farm
Is another wave of foreign farmers headed for Canada?
Reading Time: 5 minutes [UPDATED: Nov. 21, 2023] Even into the early 2000s, Canadian real estate agents were doing impressive business flying cash-rich and expansion-minded European farmers west across the Atlantic to buy turnkey farms here at prices far cheaper than they could ever find at home. That was then. Today, the flow has slowed to a trickle, not […] Read more
The story behind the story
Reading Time: 3 minutes Country Guide was surprised to learn that the Lindgrens had hired a PR agent. Sure, everyone wants to make a good impression on social media, but most of us aren’t willing to pay for it. But then I learned how and why the Lindgrens had started retailing seed and crop protection products, it all made […] Read more
AI for data analysis
[AI for the Farm] Farms are building giant heaps of data. Somewhere in them is something valuable, call it a star of hope. But how do you pick out the useful stuff? It looks like artificial intelligence will help
Reading Time: 6 minutes Your conversation starts with a text on your device: FARMER: “Farmbot, please make me a prescription map.” BOT REPLIES TO FARMER VIA TEXT: Would you like to do variable rate seeding on field 10?FARMER: Seed costs are higher, so yes.BOT: Would you like me to produce a rate map for you?FARMER: Yes.The Bot provides the map […] Read more
Country Guide Podcast: Olivia Riddoch
Reading Time: < 1 minute In Episode 2 of our Better Advice series, Country Guide spoke with Olivia Riddoch of Fairwind Farms, where she shared the career change that brought her back to the family farm and how she’s now managing crop protection on over 4000 acres. Tune in at country-guide.ca or subscribe on Apple or Google.
Country Guide Podcast: Mark Lumley
Reading Time: < 1 minute In the first episode of our NEW Better Advice podcast series, Country Guide sat down with Mark Lumley of Fairwind Farms to chat about the evolution of his family farm and how he keeps on when it isn’t always easy. Tune in at country-guide.ca or subscribe on Apple or Google.
If you really want it
Can Canada’s farmers launch better business ventures by following Nelson Gibson’s lead at APH?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Two minutes into the conversation, you begin to see the parallels between Nelson Gibson’s job and the job that more Canadian farmers see ahead for themselves. On the farm, that job is ahead partly because of how the land market is curtailing farm expansion plans, and partly too because of the new levels of equity […] Read more
Never stop asking questions
Reading Time: < 1 minute Since Ryan Hofford started converting his organic grain farm north of Swan River, Manitoba, to a conventional operation in 2021, he’s made dramatic changes to the way he farms. Along the way, he’s needed a lot of information and advice. There are lots of workshops and websites helping farmers convert the other way — from […] Read more
Farm advice for his ‘younger self’
Reading Time: 2 minutes Steven Snider was Alberta’s Outstanding Young Farmer in 2003. Twenty years later, he’s still running a successful farm near New Norway, Alberta, growing organic heritage grains and organic pulse crops for the organic milling and food processing industries. He also runs Little Red Hen Mills. Looking back over his career, we asked Steven Snider what […] Read more
How optical sprayers do a whole lot more
[Better Advice] Optical spraying systems can pay off if used only for pre-seed burnoffs, but with a little pushing of boundaries, these farmers are finding they can also use the technology to target fungicides and pre-harvest desiccants
Reading Time: 5 minutes Early adopters are buying optical spraying systems to greatly reduce the amount of herbicide required for pre-season burnoff of weeds. This alone is often enough to justify the cost for larger farms that cover thousands of acres per year. But pre-seed burnoff — seeing green weeds on brown ground and spraying them — is just […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
