Reading Time: 3 minutes In my last article I reported that leadership has been shown to account for 37.6 per cent of the variability in business performance. I commented that small business leaders haven’t tapped this personal competitive advantage to achieve more with the resources they already have. But as we know, it is one thing to champion the […] Read more
Leader development explained
Improving your farm today for tomorrow’s growth
Reading Time: 5 minutes When I am working with the most successful farm business families, there are some clear areas where they seem to focus their efforts. They understand the critical balance of work “on” the business and “in” the business. In preparing for this five-part series on how farmers today are continuously improving, one area that I kept […] Read more
Tough talk
How to respond to questions you don’t want to answer
Reading Time: 3 minutes In the age of social media, consumers are feeling empowered to ask more and more questions, which means that answering questions about farm practices has become another “to-do” on your already supercharged list. Farmers not only play an important role in the food conversation, they can be said to have a duty to participate in […] Read more
Assertive, or co-operative?
A better way to drive business success on your family farm with effective communication and conflict resolution
Reading Time: 4 minutes I have taught in the CTEAM program for 20-plus years. During sessions on strategic human resource management, participants routinely say that communication — particularly when dealing with conflict — is something they struggle with. Early participants questioned the benefits of formal communication approaches, such as information sharing and decision-making meetings. They were also hesitant to […] Read more
More together
Taking a group and multi-generational approach to upgrading their skills is paying off on the Woods farm
Reading Time: 5 minutes More farmers agree that the old saying has it about right: Failing to plan is planning to fail. It’s too easy to get off-course if you haven’t set your intentions and goals to paper. Besides, how do you track your success if you don’t have goals? Having completed a succession plan that lays the groundwork […] Read more
Is the class half full or half empty?
Just under half of Canada’s farmers are committed to lifelong learning. Here’s how it makes a difference
Reading Time: 5 minutes “When the human mind is stretched, it never returns to its original size — similar to most new underpants.” That’s a quote from the International Farm Management Congress in Scotland last year, and it’s one that Farm Management Canada (FMC) executive director Heather Watson uses to stress the enduring impact of continuous lifelong learning. “The […] Read more
Which risks should you take and which should you manage?
AME Management: Risk assessment
Reading Time: 4 minutes Canadian agriculture’s business environment seems even more uncertain than usual. Markets are more volatile than historically. President Trump seems bent on causing new uncertainties in, among other areas, international trade. As this is written, it is not completely certain that Canada will remain in NAFTA, or exactly what shape that agreement will take. Meanwhile, the […] Read more
A professional approach to agriculture pays off
Continuous improvement is important in today’s farming community
Reading Time: 5 minutes We all know we are speaking to (and about) a different generation in today’s farming community. It’s a group that is rapidly growing in education, in financial knowledge and in their eagerness to do more, do it better and leave their legacy in the ag world. The idea at the centre of all of it […] Read more
Hiring: Get it right the first time
Searching for the ideal employee starts well before you place the want ad
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s a number that should wake us up: 80 per cent of employee turnover is the result of hiring the wrong person. That’s according to the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC), a national non-profit organization focused on addressing human resource issues in the ag sector. Since hiring and training new employees is a costly […] Read more
Importing the LEAN philosophy to your farm
Money Management: At first, it seemed ‘Lean’ might only work on small farms. Now it’s showing how to drive out waste and pump up profit on large farms too
Reading Time: < 1 minute Lean” is a management and organizational system originally developed by car manufacturer Toyota. There wasn’t a farm in sight. But now, after boosting balance sheets for so many other businesses worldwide, some think it’s about time mainstream agriculture got onboard. We will meet Indiana farmer Ben Hartman who has been applying Lean principles to his […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
