Reading Time: 3 minutes Bookkeeping for the farm business might not be anyone’s favourite chore, but staying on top of it can help your farm access the funds it needs to grow.
Five reasons why you avoid farm bookkeeping
When you prefer to be in the field or the barn, you can find lots of reasons to ignore bookkeeping. But if it doesn't get it done, your farm may be missing out
The Secret Sauce of Sibling Run Farms
Sibling business partnerships can offer a farm business unique advantages
Reading Time: 4 minutes Working with family can be difficult, but successful sibling agricultural operations seem to leverage the unique advantages of their relationships to create growth for their farms.
Risk management for the farm means considering people, too
The idea of human-centred risk management for family-owned farm operations might not be well known — but it should be
Reading Time: 5 minutes Wheat fields in New Brunswick, Canada.
How to grow a finance team for your agribusiness
Building the finance team for your agribusiness requires the right mix of processes, technology and people
Reading Time: 3 minutes Typical growing pains for an agribusiness include managing the overhead of accounting and finance. I like to think of the operations and sales team as the invading army — looking to conquer more acres, market share and revenue. Meanwhile the accounting and finance team functions in a supporting role as the supply lines, providing current […] Read more
Why do farmers hate paying taxes?
There are plenty of reasons why farmers might hate paying taxes – and several ways to avoid it
Reading Time: 3 minutes It didn’t take long in my accounting career to learn that farmers don’t like paying income tax. No one does really, but farmers seem to have a particular disdain for sending money to Ottawa. I think there are a few reasons for this. One is cash basis income tax treatment which means farmers can often […] Read more
Employment agreements: A tool to manage employees
Reading Time: 3 minutes The days of a one-parcel, 100-acre family farm are long past. As farm operations become larger and more sophisticated, so does the need for properly managing farm operations. And that starts with the workforce. Proper training, supervision, and safety policies and procedures are paramount when it comes to managing a workforce. Additionally, the importance of […] Read more
Moving beyond delegation on the farm
Summer Series: When everyone is too busy and delegating isn’t an option, what’s a busy farmer to do?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farming can be overwhelming during peak seasons. A never-ending job list means you’re overloaded — which means your team is probably already operating at maximum capacity as well, so delegating isn’t an option. What can you do? Kelly Dobson, executive coach and fourth-generation Fairfax, Man., farmer says a common complaint from his clients is that […] Read more
You don’t have to be a people person to be a good leader
Summer Series: Just follow these basic tips to polish your leadership skills
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you read Country Guide you are most likely a farm manager or owner which means that perhaps you’re often focused on human resources management. But if you don’t think you’re great with people, not to worry. Many times, I’ve come across farm managers who have evolved their people skills in a short amount of […] Read more
VIDEO: How to go from managing to mentoring
Summer Series: How you lead matters. Subtle but powerful shifts in your leadership style can make a world of difference to your employees and, consequently, to your farm business
Reading Time: 2 minutes There’s a moment every leader remembers: that moment when someone looks at them differently. Not because of what that leader did, but because of how they did it. That’s mentorship. There have been a few times in my career where I’ve had glimpses of a true mentor. Those moments stand out. But the most impactful […] Read more
Great farm leaders have dirt under their fingernails
Summer Series: Agriculture has had its share of great leaders. But what happens to the industry when the leadership pool starts to dry up?
Reading Time: 2 minutes I don’t believe that leaders are born. I believe they are made. I also believe that we are on the cusp of losing a significant amount of leadership in agriculture. Canadian and U.S. farmer demographics indicate that approximately 65 per cent of the industry is in the exit strategy stage. We are about to lose […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
