Reading Time: 7 minutes Because machinery decisions have such a huge impact on cash flow and solvency, we tend to forget that these are actually decisions about per-acre production costs. Or if we do think of them as costs, we don’t think of them as rigorously as we think about other inputs, such as seed or cop protection. It’s […] Read more
The Choice
The Heart Of Your Farm(2)
Reading Time: 5 minutes RECOVERY Recovery is more than “getting back on your feet.” It means psychological and physical adjustments, and there will be have to changes for the family and spouse too. “A heart event affects the entire family,” says nurse Kendra Ulmer. “One of the most important things you can do to speed recovery is to accept […] Read more
BIG IDEA Paying The GMO Cost
Reading Time: 6 minutes Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably formed an opinon about NDP agriculture critic Alex Atamanenko and his doomed private members’ bill on biotech crops. The bill itself wasn’t complex. At under 100 words, it couldn’t be. But it was big, calling for “an analysis of potential harm to export markets” prior to […] Read more
Oooh, Aaah, Ogema (Saskatchewan, That Is)
Reading Time: 6 minutes By the time you get 70 miles due south of Regina, you know what to expect. The landscape is as open in front of you as it is behind, marked only with occasional crossroads that once in a while still struggle to maintain their names and their status as villages, showing how once, a long […] Read more
Focus Groups
Reading Time: 5 minutes Do you really want to get involved? You’re already busier than ever and it’s awfully tempting to simply say no. But then, focus groups are a major way for companies and other groups — even governments — to make sure they deliver what farmers want, so it would be good for them to get the […] Read more
Learning More
Reading Time: 8 minutes Some people are driven to learn constantly. Clearly at 54 years old, Dan Wester is one of them. In the last few years, Wester has taken extended courses from the George Morris Centre as well as executive training through Texas A&M University, and he has signed on for a multitude of workshops and seminars. And […] Read more
If The Bubble Bursts
Reading Time: 10 minutes Her words were carefully chosen to avoid any sense of panic, and she delivered them in a flat, bureaucratic monotone. But on October 18, 2010, when U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation chair Sheila Bair warned that the rapidly rising farmland values may be the next asset bubble, she actually didn’t have to worry. Farmers and […] Read more
Jump Start
Reading Time: 7 minutes When Jean-Pierre Blackburn stepped up to the microphone to announce a new federal program to help young farmers, he knew that what he was going to say would cause heads to nod in agreement all across Canada. “We all know that beginning farmers face many obstacles,” the federal Minister of State for Agriculture said, listing […] Read more
Down At The Elevator
Reading Time: 6 minutes Greg Brenneman, who farms near Salina, Kansas quickly put the question is sharp context. His home state has moved away from wheat production, as Gerald Pilger reported in last month’s issue of COUNTRY GUIDE. Instead, farmers there are growing more profitable corn. It’s a change that is putting huge pressure on the state’s grain handling […] Read more
Grower University 2011 Series – for Feb. 15, 2011
Reading Time: 4 minutes Having a solid business strategy for your operation is like air to the lungs — essential to stay alive. Yet while contemplating a calculated strategy is critical, of equal importance is finding a way to give that strategy legs. So how can you incite your strategy, taking it from paper to reality? What is strategy, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
