Reading Time: 9 minutes On most farms, it’s among the big decisions of an entire lifetime. Do you buy that farm down the road and take on all that risk? Or do you watch someone else farm it and mutter, every time you drive, “That could have been mine”? Either way, it’s harder than anyone outside of agriculture might […] Read more
Making a smarter deal for farmland
If farmers are so sharp at land buying, who do so many pay too much?
The open road of culinary tourism
Rebecca Mackenzie sits exactly at the midpoint between farmers and consumers. Can she help bring everyone together?
Reading Time: 6 minutes [UPDATED: Mar. 23, 2021] The past year has shone a sometimes not very flattering light on Canada’s ailing food system, but it has also revealed new challenges and exciting opportunities to bring about long overdue changes for the farming and foodservice industry. For Rebecca Mackenzie, president and CEO of the Culinary Tourism Alliance, it’s time […] Read more
Goodbye to Canada’s ‘average’ farm
It used to be that one farm on a road was pretty much like every other. Not anymore
Reading Time: 9 minutes What does an average farm look like in today’s Canada. If there is such a thing these days, there’s a good chance it looks a lot more like Scott Beaton’s farm than you would ever have thought possible. Beaton didn’t grow up on a farm, or think he’d ever have one of his own, but […] Read more
Farming’s hottest boomtown
Guide Canada: Lethbridge has emerged as one of Canada’s hottest centres of farm and ag entrepreneurialism. How hot is that? Well, read on…
Reading Time: 11 minutes Ask anyone what they think of when they think of Alberta, and the same handful of images always come to mind. Think Banff, Jasper and the rolling foothills for a start. Now, add Lethbridge, especially if you’re a farmer. Then think excitement. Young people might be fleeing other parts of rural Canada, but not here. […] Read more
Roots and branches
The popular idea is that farming is a closed shop: If you aren’t born on a farm, you will never farm. But it isn’t quite true
Reading Time: 12 minutes Unconventional stories are becoming conventional in today’s agriculture. In fact, they’re becoming surprisingly conventional. Yes, agriculture across the decades has always found unexpected ways to replenish itself. Still, the barriers to entry have never been as astronomic as they are today for anyone who isn’t among the fortunate few to have been born into long-established, […] Read more
Farmland rentals in Western Canada continue to rise
More and more acres are on the rental market, with land increasingly held by families exiting active farming
Reading Time: 8 minutes The number of acres of rented and leased farmland in Canada is going nowhere but up, and will keep being led by Western Canada, especially Saskatchewan and Alberta. “I would expect that we’ll continue to see more people renting land for a number of reasons,” says Farm Credit Canada’s principal agricultural economist Craig Klemmer. That’s […] Read more
From ‘no’ to ‘yes’
How one farmer and his financial advisor persevered to find a route out of financial disaster
Reading Time: 6 minutes American psychologist B.F. Skinner once said: A failure is not always a mistake. It may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying. This is a story about a farmer who never stopped trying, even as his finances went so horribly off track that he risked […] Read more
Resilient farmers vs. COVID-19: A ‘cover story’ family farm
For the Burnhams, the lesson of COVID-19 is more of a reminder, really. Family is the core of a farm business
Reading Time: 6 minutes This family deserves special attention, so as we conclude this series with Country Guide we wanted to bring you the story of a family that we call our “Cover Story Family.” In our view, they seemed to pretty much get it right over the past year. Getting it right refers to the bold steps our […] Read more
Home is where there’s land to farm
The Schill family has set down new roots in Ontario’s Temiskaming region —and they’re glad they did
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farming takes an uncommon amount of willpower and commitment to make things work despite the many uncertainties that farmers everywhere know all too well. It’s a skill that’s groomed in each new generation as it comes along, and it’s often tied to the peculiarities of the same tract of land that’s been in the family, […] Read more
Resilient farmers vs. COVID-19: How one Ontario farm got so resilient
Rather than focussing on pandemic problems, the next generation brings solutions to the table
Reading Time: 4 minutes Our series on farm resiliency has been a fascinating one to write. We have spoken with several farm families about the challenges they faced and overcame during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it affected the ag community. We focused on the positives — stories of families and communities coming together to get last year’s crop […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
