Reading Time: 3 minutes Many young farmers dream of buying a farm. The question is: How can you turn that dream into reality? The answer to that question raises more questions. Because there are several important considerations to think through very carefully before making that leap. To start your farm-buying path off on the right foot, let’s look at […] Read more
Buying your first farm
Buying your first farm is a big deal, in more ways than one. Here are key factors to consider before signing on the dotted line
When farm plans fail
If you’ve been talking for years about planning something for the farm, maybe it’s time to look at why you’re stuck
Reading Time: 3 minutes “It’s been 10 years, and we still don’t have a plan.” If this sounds like something you’ve said to yourself, have you also asked, “Why don’t we?” Ten years talking about making a plan but still not having it written down, or not making any real changes in the way your farm operates, can be […] Read more
Beliefs your farm could be better without
Why don’t farm transition plans advance over time? Usually because families fall into one of these thinking traps
Reading Time: 3 minutes Beliefs, or “the rules we live by,” deeply influence our choices and assumptions. They show up in our day-to-day lives and we treat them as respected “facts,” when that may not be the case. We tend not to question or consider whether these beliefs are true. These rules are often learned in the household in […] Read more
Moving your farm’s books to the cloud
Reading Time: 2 minutes As far as topics go, farm bookkeeping and office administration don’t get a lot of attention. Why would they when there’s drought and drones, multi-million-dollar farm acquisitions, trade wars, tariffs and labour disruptions to focus on instead? But it’s a subject that’s creating a bottleneck, preventing some farm operations from reaching their growth potential and […] Read more
Manitoba farmers share their farm succession story
Transitioning the family farm can be riddled with challenges. The Stepplers have learned that working collaboratively offers a better chance of success for all
Reading Time: 7 minutes It’s a fact that most families squabble. Individuals don’t always see eye to eye, and they can’t always work together. But if they can find a way, it can make a world of difference to the profitability and future of their farm — and the success of their relationships with each other. The Stepplers managed […] Read more
Formalize the family farm with shareholder agreements
Reading Time: 3 minutes What if everyone in the farm business could lay out their expectations and at the same time determine what is expected of each to make the business work? And what if you could also design a road map for how each person exits the operation or buys out other parties? A shareholder’s agreement is an […] Read more
People-first winery plays the long game
This Nova Scotian winery proves that focusing on the right things at the right time leads to success
Reading Time: 6 minutes The Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia, an hour north of Halifax, seems an unlikely place to find a thriving winery making world-class wines from locally grown grapes. But Benjamin Bridge, which began as a passion project for the founders 25 years ago, has grown into a successful and innovative winery. Keltie MacNeill is the director […] 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
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
2022-Level Farm Profits are Over. What’s Next?
Reading Time: 2 minutes It looks like 2022-level profitability is over for farms in Western Canada. The decline of commodity markets combined with ever-increasing costs is pressuring 2025 farm budgets. So, if grain farming is back to squeaking out a profit for the foreseeable future, what can we do about it? 1. Confront the facts, but don’t lose faith […] Read more
Dreamer versus Doer: Harnessing creativity in farm businesses
Connecting your internal dreamer with real-world doing can lead to big wins on the farm
Reading Time: 7 minutes Is the world really made of up “dreamers” and “doers”? And if so, which one comes out ahead? Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow believed that “One half of the world must sweat and groan that the other half may dream.” Dreamers, who are more inclined towards imagination, creativity and possibilities, are in stark contrast to doers […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
