“We are diversified now but we had even more ventures in the past.” – Ryan Schuyler.

Next level farm management

Business planning practices are driving success on these three farms

Reading Time: 8 minutes There are two halves to farming — production and business. They are correlated, of course. You can’t really succeed in one if you aren’t also up to scratch at the other. That said, we’ve always known that every farmer brings their own mix of management skills and energies to the table, which means every operation […] Read more

Resilient farmers vs. COVID-19: Producing good outcomes

Resilient farmers vs. COVID-19: Producing good outcomes

It takes self-sacrifice, persistence and loyalty to each other, but farm families are creating good outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic, and they’re emerging stronger than ever

Reading Time: 5 minutes As we researched this series on resiliency during the COVID-19 pandemic, did families ever shine! During some of the biggest challenges of our generation, we saw the agriculture community step up, and we saw the theme of family resiliency appear time and again. Our clients were eager to tell us the good, and yes, the […] Read more


The Fox family, with son Corey and wife Jessica and their children Rylee and Blair, Bruce and Monna and daughter Jennifer. (Missing, daughter Amanda.)

Resilient farmers vs. COVID-19: Burnham Family Farms

Here’s how family and community relationships powered these farmers through the pandemic, getting seed in the ground and creating a resolve for the future

Reading Time: 5 minutes In the battle against the pandemic that is gripping our industry and reaching across the globe, the resiliency of farmers continues to be showcased. In our last article, we explored the innovations employed by our ag community that demonstrated their ability to adapt and get the job done. “Another year, another challenge,” was the basic […] Read more

To cut costs, Warren Jibb focused on bypassing old sales networks and going straight to the source with online purchasing. “COVID-19 hit the fast-forward button,” he says.

Resilient farmers vs. COVID-19: Shadyway Farms Limited

Resiliency is helping farmers take on the pandemic and more, writes Darrell Wade. For this article, he looks at the power of innovation

Reading Time: 6 minutes What a year for everyone, in every sector, in every single part of the globe. For the first time in most of our lives, we faced a global pandemic. As a pandemic, it saw no boundaries in any industry, in any part of the world. Every single one of us faced challenges. Same storm, different […] Read more


Thinking ‘tomorrow’

Thinking ‘tomorrow’

Saskatchewan grain producer Kristjan Hebert looks for COVID-19 insights to make his operation even more productive

Reading Time: 4 minutes While Kristjan Hebert’s working life hasn’t changed drastically through COVID-19, the pandemic has helped refine his ideas on how the grain industry could move forward from here. Mainly, it’s convinced him even more than before that farming is a people business. “I still feel that people are our number one asset,” he says. “If we […] Read more

Pandemic planning: Write it down, add it up

Pandemic planning: Write it down, add it up

It's the big lesson of 2020. A business plan is practically guaranteed to up your game, make you more money, and keep you happier and healthier. So what are you doing this winter?

Reading Time: 6 minutes The number gap is stark. In fact, it’s hard to think where you’d find one that’s wider: 88 per cent of farmers who have a written business plan say their plan has so many benefits (both to the farm and to themselves as farmers) that it more than pays for itself. Yet only 21 per […] Read more


The question is, if you treat everyone equally, are you really treating them the same?

Equal, and equitable too

In a new column, CAHRC’s Jennifer Wright offers strategies that can boost the opportunity for female family members and employees to contribute on-farm

Reading Time: 6 minutes In 2017, 16,500 jobs could not be filled in Canadian agriculture, resulting in a loss of $2.9 billion in sales. When asked, 47 per cent of agricultural producers said they could not find enough workers, causing stress, production delays, lost sales, and delays or cancellations for farm expansions or upgrades. In the same survey, 34 […] Read more

Wade Bleier runs three companies from his farm in Saskatchewan.

Summer days

On more farms like Wade Bleier’s, summer can’t just be about crops and livestock anymore. Those days had vanished even before COVID-19 arrived. Now the challenge is even greater. How will they use this summer to take back control?

Reading Time: 13 minutes All Canadians pay close attention to the calendar and clock, but no one more than the Canadian farmer, whose livelihood has always depended on the tactical use of limited hours, days and months. Now comes summer 2020, and on top of all the uncertainties of weather, pests and markets, there’s no end to the COVID-19 […] Read more


Labour is a growing input cost and farmers need to pay more attention to it.

Gauging employee productivity

Sure, your employees seem busy enough. But are they productive? Better yet, can you improve their productivity?

Reading Time: 6 minutes Of course farmers have an excellent grasp of their input costs. As in any business, the lower the costs, the better the bottom line, so farmers are constantly experimenting with different fertilizer rates, seeding rates, equipment strategies and so much more. And for everything they do, farmers track what it costs, what it produces and […] Read more

In the not-too-distant future, a farmer’s job will be more about managing data than managing soil.

Farming in 2030: Big data

The last time there was a change this big in farming, it was mechanization. The question is: are you open to exploring how it can work for you?

Reading Time: 5 minutes If you’ve got a cell phone anywhere close to you as you read this, you’re part of the data revolution in agriculture, whether you realize it or not, and whether you want to be or not. That’s probably a good thing. Certainly, the potential benefits are amazing. “The smartphone is going to be one of […] Read more