Reading Time: 9 minutes Farmers are hearing more and more about peer farming groups. Maybe you even know someone personally who’s a member. That wouldn’t be surprising as these farm business management groups are growing in number across the country. They come in many shapes and sizes, but have some traits in common as well, and all share the […] Read more
The peer-to-peer choice
Why are more farmers joining peer-to-peer farm management and benchmarking clubs? Because it pays
Partnership boom
Like Richard and Doug Arnold, more farmers are forming partnerships of more kinds. They're examples of how to do it right
Reading Time: 10 minutes Since its launch about two years ago, the company formed by grain farmers Richard and Annette Arnold and their son Doug in Hamiota, Man., has scored some big successes in Western Canada. Those include several awards — in 2016, Arnold Innovations took home a “Silver” Innovation Award at Farm Progress in Regina along with Best […] Read more
Struggling on the farm
You’re already trained for first aid on the farm. But what about mental illness?
Reading Time: 8 minutes By now, most people involved in agriculture have heard something about depression and anxiety disorders. Whether it’s been through the survey of farmer mental health, started in 2015 and highlighted in 2018, or through the efforts of groups like Do More Ag, word has spread. Now, it’s important that this awareness gets translated into action, […] Read more
The Farmers Business Network revolution
FBN says it is going to revolutionize agriculture, making farmers way more competitive. The service is off to a good start
Reading Time: 6 minutes As farmers, we may be on the verge of a transformational change in the way farmers conduct business and manage their operations all because of the Silicon Valley start-up: “Farmers Business Network.” History is littered with farmer and peasant uprisings. Because of the disorganization of these farmer rebellions and quick suppression by governing elites, most […] Read more
Leader development versus the quick fix
Management without leadership is like tightening a nut with no wrench on the bolt head
Reading Time: 4 minutes Every once in awhile I have a casual conversation that goes like this: “Leadership is nice (guess what comes next), but I have real problems right now, and I have to do something; I don’t have time for leader development, I’m busy.” In my view, we are all busy, but this sentiment is the verbal […] Read more
Want to travel? Here’s how
‘Opportunities are out there,’ says 4-H’s Melina Found. It’s a case of saying yes to them
Reading Time: 5 minutes As is clear from the photograph above, George Meggison loves travelling and learning about different people and places. Plus, with plans to study agriculture at university and then return to the family farm, he wants to see as much of the world as he can while he is young. “I think it’s very important to […] Read more
How much did that off-colour joke cost you?
More than you probably think, because we all work harder and better in workplaces where we feel respected
Reading Time: 4 minutes If you think those off-colour jokes, sexist comments, or the occasional angry outburst are harmless, you should think again. The research is clear that rude behaviour can hurt your farm’s bottom line. For more than 20 years, Christine Porath, an associate professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., has […] Read more
Room to grow organic
Farmers are upping their organic output, but they’re still a long way from meeting the demand of the two-thirds of Canadians who sometimes or always shop for organic
Reading Time: 5 minutes Led by Millennial buyers, demand for organic food across Canada is growing robustly. Demand is surging ahead of domestic production, which has been growing but not nearly fast enough to keep up. “Demand is definitely outpacing supply,” says Jill Guerra, research and special projects co-ordinator for Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA). “We need more producers […] Read more
All for one
This innovative group of Alberta feedlot owners is redefining how to win by acting together
Reading Time: 11 minutes “Let’s get naked.” It’s not a phrase you expect (or probably want) to hear from a group of Alberta feedlot owners. But then again, you may never have met the five individuals who make up the Allied Marketing Group (AMG) in southern Alberta. Getting naked is their cheeky way of telling Country Guide how, metaphorically […] Read more
Where it’s warm
AGCO’s GSI aims to make grain storage safer with on-farm medical technology
Reading Time: 5 minutes Here in the Great White North, we love to gripe about winter. But one of the advantages of our cold season is that it’s much easier and safer to store grain here than in parts of the world that have year-round warmth, where preventing spoilage of stored grain remains a challenge. I can remember hearing […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
