a red-haired woman wearing a white blazer and denim pants

Making space for a new generation of ideas in Canadian agriculture

Summer Series 'Making the Future': Exploring the perspectives and experiences of young up-and-comers in various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry

Reading Time: 4 minutes In part four of our Making the Future series Country Guide spoke with Eugénie Officer from Hemmingford, Que. (Read part one here, part two here and part three here.) Officer grew up on a small apple farm in southwestern Quebec. After studying history and agriculture at the University of Guelph, she joined Farm Credit Canada […] Read more

farmer holding a young child in his arms in a field of wheat

Can slowing down farm succession really work?

Summer Series: Designating more time to the farm transition process can mean less stress and more choices

Reading Time: 4 minutes When I ask farmers to guess how long it will take to complete a transition plan, they usually say one to two years. The reality is that it takes much longer.  In a 2017 survey by Business Development Canada (BDC), five out of six entrepreneurs believed that the transition process can be completed in two […] Read more


Silos and trees cast long shadows in fog at sunrise, scenic rural landscape, aerial view.

When it looks like there aren’t many options for farm growth what’s a growing family to do?

Summer Series: Here’s how farm families can navigate a common sticky farm succession situation — and still want to have Christmas dinner together

Reading Time: 4 minutes Keeping the farm in the family is something really special.  But figuring out how to share it with siblings and cousins who want to be part of the business? That can get tricky. Especially if the farm is only so big and growth is limited. “Every farm and family dynamic is different, and the more […] Read more

youn woman wearing a ball cap with wheat plots in the background at a farm show

Encouraging people from outside agriculture to come on in

Summer Series 'Making the future': Exploring the perspectives and experiences of young up-and-comers in various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry

Reading Time: 4 minutes In part three of our Making the Future series, Country Guide spoke with Emily McGovern from South Surrey, B.C. (Read part one, here.) McGovern, 24, works on developing special content for marketing projects for Glacier FarmMedia, the parent company of Country Guide. She has a BA in linguistics and publishing from Simon Fraser University and […] Read more


people on horseback and a herd of cattle

Adapting, innovating and thriving in Saskatchewan agriculture

Summer Series 'Next Gen': Country Guide sat down with several 2024 Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF) to learn about their experiences and plans for the future. In this instalment, we spoke with Saskatchewan regional winners Erika and Cyle Stewart

Reading Time: 5 minutes Cyle and Erika Stewart have embraced their ability to pivot and take a new approach to ranching on more than one occasion. They moved their cow herd and entire ranch operation from British Columbia to Saskatchewan in 2017, successfully navigated droughts, and are now focused on finding new ways to improve the management of their […] Read more

a young woman poses with dairy cattle in a barn

Youth focused on keeping Quebec’s dairy industry strong

Summer Series 'Making the Future': Exploring the perspectives and experiences of young up-and-comers in various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry

Reading Time: 3 minutes In part two of our Making the Future series, Country Guide spoke with Béatrice Neveu from Rawdon, Que. (Read part one, here.) Twenty-two-year-old Neveu is a dairy farmer who milks 60 (mostly) Jersey cows alongside her dad, Steven. After completing the three-year Farm Management and Technology program at Macdonald College in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., she returned […] Read more


Paige and Marcus Dueck with a photo of their dairy farm in the background

Outstanding Manitoba farm couple harnesses innovation and data

Summer Series 'Next Gen': Self-proclaimed data junkies and winners of the 2024 Manitoba Outstanding Young Farmers award, Paige and Marcus Dueck, talk about the changes they’ve made on their farm, how they’ve harnessed technology to work for them and what leadership means

Reading Time: 4 minutes For over a decade Paige and Marcus Dueck have embraced their passion for farming while striving to innovate and expand their Kleefeld, Man., dairy operation.  Today, they are proud to say they’ve doubled their milk production during their short tenure and have optimized robotic technology to create a successful and balanced lifestyle for their young […] Read more

DJ Wassenaar and business partner Matt Bergman in a soybean field

Ontario farmers partner for success

Summer Series 'Next Gen': Country Guide sat down with several 2024 Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF) to learn about their experiences and plans for the future. In this instalment, we spoke with Ontario OYF regional winners Matt Bergman and DJ Wassenaar

Reading Time: 5 minutes Ontario business partners, Matt Bergman and DJ Wassenaar, have been farming together for 10 years. Their focus on integrating unconventional and innovative practices, combined with embracing calculated risks, is one of the reasons they were awarded the Ontario Outstanding Young Farmers (OYF) award in 2024. As young farmers who are eager to grow their operation, […] Read more


VIDEO: Managing ‘not-so-good’ vibrations

VIDEO: Managing ‘not-so-good’ vibrations

Reading Time: < 1 minute Are you getting bad vibes from someone with whom you usually feel quite connected? It can be tough for everyone to always jive with everyone else when you work and/or live together day after day. But if there is in fact something wrong and you’d like to get to the bottom of it, Patti Durand […] Read more

a photo of Vicki Brisson

Youth motivated to find answers to today’s agricultural challenges

Making the future: Exploring the perspectives and experiences of young up-and-comers in various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry

Reading Time: 4 minutes This is the first in a series of articles exploring the perspectives and experiences of young people who are finding their passion, flexing their skills and contributing their insights and innovations to various sectors of Canada’s agriculture industry. They shared with Country Guide what excites them about the industry, what they think about its future […] Read more