Reading Time: 5 minutes Roly Reenders story starts out the way a lot of Canadian farm stories start, with Reenders taking over the family operation when his father retired. But that s about as far as the similarities go. Reenders father wasn t a typical farmer, and it wasn t a typical farm. Instead, his father was a full-time […] Read more
He Picks U-Pick
Better Off
Reading Time: 5 minutes Dwayne Logan is convinced. Any new farmer not starting off with a lot of money or help from their parents is better off taking the sustainable farming route, Dwayne tells me as we walk the 600 acres he and Shelley farm near Nesbitt, about 15 minutes south of Brandon, Man. The question is, what does […] Read more
In At The Start
Reading Time: 4 minutes Ross Bricker was a hard guy to get hold of that Tuesday. He wasn t in his office and his cellphone kept jumping right to voicemail. I wondered, is he on a conference call that just won t quit? Is he stuck in an endless meeting? Maybe he s on year-end, or has to put […] Read more
Build A Better Cookie
Reading Time: 5 minutes If you are a North American with celiac disease, you’ve heard of and likely depend on Kinnikinnick Foods, North America s largest producer of gluten-free foods. Kinnikinnick supplies products to 10,000 stores and hundreds of restaurants across North America, and is currently expanding into multiple overseas markets. It s hard to believe that Kinnikinnick started […] Read more
Breaking Through
Reading Time: 4 minutes Dan Doner s eyebrows jump when I mention May, 2003. Eight years later, the reaction is still there, and it s still easy to understand why. That May, a Canadian animal first tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), taking control of Doner s business life just as it did for thousands of other livestock […] Read more
Pull The Trigger
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you feel that marketing is getting tougher all the time, you aren t alone. Volatility in grain and oilseed pricing has increased dramatically, so it s no wonder farmers are having an even harder time pulling the trigger. The more volatile the markets, the more paralyzed with fear farmers become, says Scott Irwin, chair […] Read more
Today Is Already History
Reading Time: 6 minutes In the heart of the U.S. farm belt, Michael Boehlje looks around him and knows that what he sees is fast disappearing. The future is almost here. What will the future look like? More important, how can you build for success in that brave new world… or decide if you should just get out of […] Read more
Can We Get There From Here?
Reading Time: 9 minutes If all the Canadian Wheat board did was sell wheat, it would be so much easier to figure out where you go from here. Not that it would be easy even then, of course. the board’s marketing clout has been felt across Canada and around the world, making it arguably the single most powerful institution […] Read more
Fix ’Er Up
Reading Time: 6 minutes There’s a whole lot of impatience going around. With strong commodity markets, no one wants to wait for yield. We want it now. So it’s little wonder all the good-quality, high-efficiency farms seem to get snapped up before they even hit the market. So, which is your smarter strategy — to sit on the sidelines, […] Read more
Something About The Weather
Reading Time: 7 minutes “Upon closer inspection, recent temperature trends strongly suggest that Saskatchewan is not getting much hotter, but rather ‘less cold’: there has been a larger increase in daily minimum temperatures (as opposed to maximum) and the largest warming has occurred during winter and early spring, resulting in a longer frost-free period and more growing degree days.” […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
