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

bouquet of flowers

Saskatchewan flower grower experiments with crops to find best bridal bouquets

Summer Series: Part two of our series following Saskatchewan’s Shifting Blooms along their business decision trail throughout the growing season

Reading Time: 3 minutes After four years running a flower farm, Kristen Raney is getting to know her business clientele better each year. Experimenting over the years with the sandy soils of her Clavet, Sask., farm means that she’s feeling confident this summer’s brides and grooms will love what she has to offer. She supplied her first 2025 wedding […] Read more


man in a blue shirt flanked by a wheat field on each side

VIDEO: Owning your influence in the community

Summer Series: Farmers are leaders in their communities, whether they realize it or not. Here’s how and why you should embrace that influence

Reading Time: 3 minutes A few years ago, I made a simple decision that would end up changing the way I see leadership. I signed up to get involved in my son’s rec hockey organization. At the time, I was excited. I wanted to be part of something meaningful, to give back, to support him and the other kids.  […] Read more

3d rendered wooden rollercoaster

Riding the tariff rollercoaster

What are producers doing to minimize the risk created by ongoing trade uncertainty?

Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers are accustomed to roller-coaster years.  But the current geopolitical windstorm is something else entirely. On his cattle operation near Birtle, Man., Tyler Fulton is making good use of livestock price insurance and has filed his annual application for AgriStability, a margin-based, federal business risk management (BRM) program that helps Canadian producers manage large income […] Read more


Photo: Carlos Barria/Reuters

Producers aren’t panicking over tariffs and trade threats

Tariffs & Trade: In the face of extreme market uncertainty, protectionist tariffs and geopolitical risks from around the world, Canadian producers aren’t rushing to change their crop and farm plans for the upcoming season — but they may put some major purchases on hold

Reading Time: 6 minutes The Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA) surveyed its members this spring to get a sense of how trade uncertainty was affecting their decisions.  “While trade is certainly weighing heavily on them it’s not the only factor. There are many factors that go into considering what producers choose to seed each year,” says Delaney Ross Burtnack, […] Read more

Two farmers standing beside a yellow canola field

Ground rules for farm family communications

Summer Series: For better business results learn how to shift from talking and listening to each other as family members to making decisions together as business partners

Reading Time: 5 minutes Establishing meeting ground rules can help your family find ways to communicate that work for your farm.  Here are some ideas you can incorporate into your farm’s communication code of behaviour. Setting rules for how your farm will meet about business can be a difficult cultural shift for the whole farm and family, but it’s […] Read more