Reading Time: 3 minutes In farming, where access to adequate financing is key to success, lender relationships can’t be ignored. Nor can you neglect your approach to your annual review meeting with your lender. This is an important management function that needs focus. How can we best manage those relationships and your annual review for long-term positive outcomes? “Lending […] Read more
Financing proposals — what to take to the bank
AME Management: Provide the essential information to your lender so they can better understand your business and assess your "ask"
Finance metrics you may not have thought of — measuring financial risk
AME Management Part 3: How balance sheets and operating statements help determine your exposure to risk
Reading Time: 3 minutes The first two columns in this three-part series focused on using the operating statement to monitor operating efficiency and to diagnose operating problems. In this column, we turn to the interaction between the balance sheet and operating statement to identify and manage financial risk. This is very topical currently because of concerns that lower grain […] Read more
Is there room for improvement on your farm?
Who knew? Formal process improvement is emerging as your farm’s best bet for solid gains
Reading Time: 6 minutes Farms have an impressive record of increasing their production efficiency through scale, scientific improvements and innovation. Efficiency is the ultimate controllable factor in commodity margins. “Every year we do more with less, better,” says Dick Wittman, Idaho farmer and consultant. “We are becoming safer, more environmentally sound, and more efficient.” As our farms become more […] Read more
Finance metrics you may not have thought of — diagnosing operating inefficiency
AME Management Part 2: The importance of watching and understanding trends and comparisons
Reading Time: 3 minutes Our last column introduced the concept of Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) and used it to define Operating Efficiency Ratio, (EBITDA/Total Revenue). With some exceptions, financially successful farms have Operating Efficiency Ratios above 35 per cent, i.e. with at least 35 cents left from every dollar of sales after paying all non-capital […] Read more
Finance metrics you may not have thought of — operating efficiency
AME Management Part 1: Basic financial tools to help determine your operating income
Reading Time: 3 minutes In good times or bad, there are some basic financial tools that allow farmers (and other managers) to gauge their operating efficiency, diagnose where they have problems, and measure the financial risk they are bearing or are about to undertake when they make a substantial investment. We find, however, that we hear very few people […] Read more
Would your farm business benefit from an advisory board?
Reading Time: 3 minutes A number of farm businesses have already appointed or are considering either a board of directors or an advisory board to help them define and execute on their strategy. In this article, several considerations in developing an advisory board are addressed. How does it differ from a board of directors? Why have one? How do […] Read more
Wheat Growers build ‘top board’ performance
It’s no accident the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association gets high marks for the quality of its board of farmer directors
Reading Time: 7 minutes Filling board seats is never an easy task. Your top prospects may be reluctant to offer their time, especially if both spouses are busy raising a family in addition to their farming and off-farm careers. Others are already fully committed, or even over-committed in other off-farm roles. Yet the other harsh reality is that even […] Read more
Are you a good leader on your farm?
Like never before, your farm needs new leadership for a new business environment. Are you getting the job done? Rate yourself on these five key leadership traits
Reading Time: 6 minutes Quick, name five strengths that farmers need in order to get their day’s work done. It’s simple, right? You need technological, financial, production, and mechanical skills, and of course, we should never forget hands-on experience. Now, just as fast, list five leadership skills that farmers need for success into the future… Not so easy, is […] Read more
Focus on where you can lead
At RFW Farms, the goal is to inject certainty into what can seem a very uncertain business. How they do that is a story in itself
Reading Time: 7 minutes In 1995 James Reesor and a business partner bought a 300-sow farrowing herd. Today, two decades later, RFW Farms is a 4,000-sow farrow-to-finish multi-site operation, producing about 2,000 hogs a week. By all measures, those 20 years have been challenging times in the hog business, yet this company has emerged as one of the largest […] Read more
Talking things out is the key to a successful farm
Guide Thrive 2015: It’s simple enough to avoid discussing the big things and the little things that really matter. It’s just that most farms will never really thrive until you do
Reading Time: 8 minutes Megan McKenzie has observed elections in Congo, she has documented human rights issues in Columbia and the Middle East, she has worked at a reconciliation centre in Ireland, and along the way she has earned a doctorate in conflict resolution and international peace studies, along with mediation training. All this despite growing up on a […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
