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Management

Integrity, communication and decisiveness are the top three qualities one farmer said he wants in his leadership.
Features, Management

Leadership skills key to farm success

Two farm families share how they came to see getting stronger at farm leadership as the key to their growth

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Reading Time: 6 minutes Being your own boss, making your own decisions, reaping the rewards of your hard work. Self-employment has its perks as a farmer. But as every farmer also knows, self-employment has its risks and its downsides too. You’re the one who’s accountable, you’re the one who has to keep yourself motivated, you’re the one who’s always […] Read more
“The farm economy is difficult ... We want to receive a fair return, not the crumbs we do.” – Marie-Andrée Raiche.
Features, Guide Business, Management

Summer Series: How to get disruptive

[Best Advice] On the Charbonneau farm, the business strategy seemed clear. Go vertical. But how?

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Reading Time: 7 minutes Here’s how one Quebec dairy farm decided to take the proverbial bull by the horns and make their farm a vertical integration success despite the constraints of the industry.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor Too often it seems we never hear the words “disruptor” and “Canadian agriculture” used in the same sentence. When we’re thinking […] Read more
Finding people you trust in order to build good working relationships doesn’t happen overnight, so start building your team as soon as possible.
Guide Business, Management

Summer Series: Want a super farm business? Build your ‘superteam’

[Team Building] Top tips from the frontline on creating and optimizing a business management team for your farm

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Reading Time: 6 minutes The words can be heard all across the country. “Our accountant, lawyer and bank manager are key players in decision-making on our farm,” says Luanne Lynn, who is currently past president of Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers Program (she and husband Philip were Outstanding Young Farmers in 2005). The Lynns have a cash crop operation in […] Read more
Leading farmers should understand how to get the most from their farm advisors.
Features, Guide Business, Management

Summer Series: Bank on growth

[Better Advice] Ideas that performance-minded farmers can take to the bank

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Reading Time: 5 minutes Even top-performing farmers need advice. In fact, when farmers fine-tune their operations to maximize yield and profitability, they can plan on needing more financial advice than ever before. This is for some very good reasons. Not only do risks grow with the scale and complexity of the operation, but so do the opportunities, and today’s […] Read more
Kelly and Christi Friesen (center) and their children at Rebellion Farms in the Peace region of Alberta.
Features, Guide Business, Management

Summer Series: Building a new farm

[Best Advice] There’s always good luck and bad. For the Friesens, though, building the farm is too important to stop

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Reading Time: 9 minutes Forced to pivot as they were starting up their farm, the Friesens did what most farmers excel at: finding solutions, workarounds and innovative approaches. Read on to find out what the rest of us can learn from their story.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor It was the summer of 2015 and Christi and Kelly Friesen […] Read more
Too few farmers have succession plans, even among high performers, says one chartered professional accountant.
Features, Management, Succession strategy

Summer Series: Do sweat the details

[Best Advice] Accounting advice to get more competitive

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Reading Time: 5 minutes When it comes to farm accounting, it’s increasingly about the details and it’s the farmers who notice them who come out on top. Here are the top four tips to get more competitive.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor Blair Sanderson sees it time and again. “The difference between a good producer and a great one,” […] Read more
Grandson Curtis Lappage joins Robert and Betty Green in a farm family meeting. A major focus is to build a framework so young members develop leadership.
Features, Management

How to prepare for business meetings

Getting serious about family meetings is helping this farm score current and future gains

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Reading Time: 6 minutes During family farm meetings it’s important for everyone to take off their family hat and address each other in a professional manner. Follow these tried-and-true tips and tricks for successful family business meetings. – April Stewart, CG Associate Editor At one of their first business meetings on their farm, Betty Green served coffee and cake […] Read more
Kelly Dobson has coached farmers since 2017 through his company, LeaderShift, and through the National Farm Leadership Program. He’s also a farmer on a fourth-generation farm at Fairfax, Manitoba.
Features, Management

Is it time to get a farm management coach?

[The Rent Shake-Up: Leadership] If you've considered this question, Kelly Dobson says, “Congratulations, you’ve self-identified as a leader.”

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Let’s say that you have a good sense of what success would look like for you and you’re pretty sure you’re made of the stuff it will take to achieve it, but it’s just not happening. Could a coach help? Kelly Dobson describes himself as a “professional capital ‘C’ Coach with a graduate degree.” Coaching, […] Read more
Farmer Coach: Reflections on year one
Features, Management

Farmer Coach: Reflections on year one

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Reading Time: 2 minutes When Ryley Richards learned out about Farmer Coach, he signed up. So far, he says, it looks like a good choice. The 41-year-old manages his family farm an hour south of Regina along with father Rod and three full-time crew members, plus a few additional hands at busy times. Over the years, the farm has […] Read more
“The next person is going to be different than who I am,” David Hansen says, who is convinced this is a good thing. “It wouldn’t make any sense to hire another me.”
Features, Management

Planning the pullback

[Better Advice] Learning from David Hansen’s graceful exit from Canterra Seeds

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Reading Time: 7 minutes Note: On October 2, 2023, Canterra Seeds appointed Brent Derkatch as its new president and CEO. Derkatch has been working with Canterra since 2001, most recently as the director of the pedigreed seed business unit. When a key employee leaves your farm operation, how much notice is best? If they leave too abruptly, you might […] Read more

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