Reading Time: 6 minutes Whether you are male or female, you know you need more business know-how to thrive in today’s ag world. Also regardless of whether you’re male or female, you’re probably actively seeking to increase those skills and your knowledge base. Everyone is upping their game. It’s part of the farmer’s basic job description. Maybe, though, the […] Read more
A better agenda
Workshops for farm women are teaching both men and women across the country how to score more with business education
China trade
Will the friction between China and Donald Trump create real opportunities for Canadian soybean growers?
Reading Time: 7 minutes In today’s world, the news headlines that we read in the morning can be turned on their head that afternoon, which is why being able to differentiate what is really newsworthy from what’s just background noise is becoming a critical success factor for farmers. On the trade front, ongoing tensions between the U.S. and China […] Read more
‘I didn’t sign up for this!’
The new AgriHR Toolkit from the national ag human resources council can help in heading off conflict before it happens
Reading Time: 4 minutes Many of us have heard it from a disgruntled employee or possibly a family member. Maybe, at some point in our lives, we have even said it ourselves. “I didn’t sign up for this!” Workers who aren’t the right fit for their job aren’t happy, and they seldom stick around. In fact, 80 per cent […] Read more
Oh FUD!
This new anti-farm marketing strategy makes even farmers feel like swearing. But here’s a better way to fight back
Reading Time: 6 minutes The food industry used to market food products on the basis of nutrition, quality and value. Companies spoke of the care farmers took to provide the healthiest, safest, best food in the world. Oh, how times have changed. Today, food branding often focuses on Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD). The nutritional label is overshadowed by […] Read more
Creating the outward-looking business
AME management: Do you know the type of culture you want for your business?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Last month’s column addressed outward-looking versus inward-looking businesses. The idea sensitized me to watch other organizations (and to check myself!) to find evidence of one or the other. Often, the evidence is mixed. Three examples A hotel where we have hosted CTEAM for several years had the same three young guys providing support for the […] Read more
How to talk food in the city
When city consumers want to know how to communicate about food, they go to Voula Halliday
Reading Time: 5 minutes “At the core, you try to create something memorable and special. The possibilities are endless,” says Voula Halliday as we discuss food and events — and how using them together has so much impact when you’re trying to promote causes and make change. It’s a Tuesday morning, and Halliday apologizes as she tells me it […] Read more
The German question
Now that they’ve recovered from communism, these East German farms worry about the excesses of democracy
Reading Time: 9 minutes The fall of the iron curtain in l989 brought democracy to the former East Germany (DDR). For farmers like Bernd Klänhammer at Penkun, an hour and a half northeast of Berlin, it also brought, for the first time in their careers, the freedom to make their own decisions. Of course, Klänhammer wasn’t the only one […] Read more
La Route des Saveurs (The Flavour Trail)
In both languages, it spells an unbelievable farm success
Reading Time: 8 minutes Some 350 million years ago, a massive meteorite plummeted out of the heavens, slammed into Earth and gouged out a giant bowl-shaped crater that today is the remarkably beautiful, fertile region of Charlevoix, Que. Wedged between the picturesque north shore of the mighty St. Lawrence and the stunning Laurentian Mountains, this UNESCO-designated biosphere is just […] Read more
Teeter totter
Farming parents need accessible, high-quality child care for their children. Can they get it?
Reading Time: 10 minutes When Donalee Jones and Scott Mowbray returned to their home town and began farming near Cartwright, Man., in 2008, the couple assumed that when things got busy, the family that they planned to have one day could easily be looked after by Scott’s parents, who lived on the yard of the Mowbray’s 2,000-acre grain farm. […] Read more
My 11 steps to making better decisions
What does making a documentary in India have to do with farm management decision-making? As it turns out, a lot
Reading Time: 6 minutes Are the decisions you make based on solid information and knowledge, or are they based on bias and emotions? This is a critical question everyone needs to ask because the basis on which decisions are made ultimately determines the quality of the decisions. In the run up to New Year’s, I realized that 2019 marks […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
