Reading Time: 7 minutes For several years, sisters Kori de Boer and Casie Kuypers were informally part of their family’s original dairy farm in Palgrave, Ont., run by their dad and uncle. When their dad and uncle’s partnership wrapped up a few years ago, they knew that if they didn’t want the dairy to stay small (which would mean […] Read more
Ontario sisters strike farm business partnership
Business partnerships can be tricky to navigate at the best of times. Throw in family members, a new on-farm business and a growing family legacy, and it’s a whole other level
Ontario growers bring ‘sun and fun’ to agri-tourism market
Could agri-tourism boost your farm income? The Davis family has some advice — “You gotta love, love, love people.”
Reading Time: 5 minutes Agri-tourism is trending. For farmers, agri-tourism is a way to diversify, to create new revenue streams and to capture more profit by selling direct to consumers without necessarily having to expand the land base. It can also be a way to make room for additional family members to join the farm business, easing the transition […] Read more
Summer Series: ‘Scale up your food ideas!’
[Make it Count] Is the time right to take your big idea to a food development centre? Today’s commodity prices may make this the best year ever to future-proof your farm
Reading Time: 12 minutes Could that idea that you’ve got buzzing around in the back of your head grow into a major commercial success if you took it to a food development centre? Who knows? And how much it would cost? There’s a lot to learn about Canada’s food development centres, but the fact is, few of our farmers […] Read more
Summer Series: Their new family plan
[Change Management] With their direct-to-consumer venture, this farm is welcoming the next generation back home
Reading Time: 6 minutes For Nora Paulovich, as for farmers all across Canada, farm success means two big things. It means nurturing the land, and nurturing the family too, building and preserving the farm for future generations. And as on other farms, Paulovich and husband Bob Noble’s adult children see their parents’ dedication and it inspires them. They want […] Read more
Right for your farm too?
Reading Time: 3 minutes As more farms like Jackknife Creek Cattle & Land find success with their direct-to-consumer ventures, many experts believe it’s a good time for others to do the same. Food veteran Jo-Ann McArthur says Canada is ready and waiting. “Is it a good time? Absolutely,” she says. McArthur, president of Toronto-based Nourish Food Marketing, says now […] Read more
Taking a direct mindset to farm marketing
Three winners at Outstanding Young Farmers share the insights that turned their ideas into successful businesses
Reading Time: 6 minutes More Canadian farmers are selling more of what they produce directly to consumers than ever before. Customers are keen to shop for locally made products and many are looking for agritourism experiences. While direct farm marketing has grown in popularity in recent times, it isn’t new to everybody. Some farmers have years of experience in […] Read more
Talking up the farm story
It’s called brand theory and it’s the cornerstone of marketing for businesses around the world. Now it turns out it works on the farm too
Reading Time: 8 minutes A brand isn’t a Nike swoosh. It’s what the Nike swoosh makes you think. On the farm, it isn’t a yellow deer jumping across a green background. It’s all the ideas — the thoughts, feelings and expectations — that that deer calls up. Few jobs are more studded with brands than farming. Farmers fill their […] Read more
Direct farm marketing in your pocket
Direct-to-consumer sales are climbing across Canada, but the small farms at the bottom of the market face some challenges
Reading Time: 5 minutes We picture them on the sides of roads and highways. We might think of a fruit stand, for example, or maybe we remember a hand-painted sign pointing to a U-pick farm. They’re what we think of when someone says “direct marketing” because they’re the more time-tested ways farmers have bypassed middlemen and retailers to sell […] Read more
An invitation for more guests
“Real farmers” may dismiss agri-tourism and U-pick farms, but with its helicopter packages, fine dining and revenue of $1,500 per customer in some of its ventures, this may be one farm you want to check out
Reading Time: 6 minutes At Prairie Gardens & Adventure Farm a half hour north of Edmonton, 80 per cent of the family’s farm revenue used to come from commodity sales and 20 per cent from agri-tourism. Now, those numbers have flipped with agri-tourism bringing in the bulk of the revenue for their northern Alberta farm. Owner Tam Andersen says […] Read more
And even more on the way
Farmers have a valuable story to tell, but tourism pro Celes Davar says they rarely know what that value is
Reading Time: 5 minutes They’ve never thought about it from the visitor’s perspective,” says Wolfville, N.S. sustainable tourism operator, Celes Davar, who helps launch new experiential on-farm businesses across the country. “But when I turn it around and say, ‘If you were going to Costa Rica tomorrow, would you want to meet someone who grows the cacao bean?’ Well, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
