Reading Time: 5 minutes When it comes to starting and growing a business, you’re only limited by your imagination. For Belmont, Manitoba first-generation farmers Lydia Carpenter and her husband Wian Prinsloo, it’s that type of unlimited, outside-the-box thinking that has become their regular way of thinking. Over the years, they’ve leveraged multiple income streams, a direct-to-consumer marketing beef business, […] Read more
An evolving vision
First-gen farmers share their blueprint for business transition
A guide for farm growth
Vision statements are more common on today’s farms. How can creating one help you?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Why does your farm need a vision? To Jeannette French and her husband Brian, co-owners of Lennox Farms in Melancthon, Ont., the answer is simple. “No matter your farm size, a vision is something that drives you every day. It’s born from your values and is the backbone of what you believe.” Six years ago, […] Read more
How farmers can thrive in retirement
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to retirement and planning ahead makes it much more enjoyable
Reading Time: 5 minutes For many farmers, being a farmer is part of their fundamental nature. It’s who they are and they can’t imagine a time when they won’t be a farmer. Who hasn’t heard a farmer say they want to die farming? But the reality is that many farmers will need to exit the business whether they want […] Read more
Planning for retirement: Lifestyle versus finances
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers might not think about retirement often, if ever. But the sooner you start to think about retiring, you can minimize the impact of the adjustment when the time comes. A retirement plan should be part of the conversation when creating a succession plan. The emphasis of succession planning is typically on transferring the business […] Read more
Starting succession right
If you’ve resolved to start transitioning the farm this year, these insights can help you get a strong start
Reading Time: 7 minutes It’s no secret that many farm and ranch operations facing the prospect of transition to the next generation feel stuck and unsure how to proceed. “We can’t emphasize enough that retirement is a significant life transition that comes with a rollercoaster of challenges and emotions,” write Robert Laura and Colleen Drummond in the Modern Elder […] Read more
Attracting the right kind of capital in agriculture
Capital is required to grow the farm business but sometimes it takes an innovative approach
Reading Time: 2 minutes Agriculture’s future will rely on attracting capital. In the past, capital typically came from banks or family. But the changing demographic of farmers and farmland owners means that many farms and a tremendous amount of farmland will change hands over the coming decade. To add to the list of challenges, inflation and farmland appreciation has […] Read more
In the combine
Syngenta leader Jeff Rowe talks about being prepared for leadership and the importance of listening to people
Reading Time: 3 minutes Jeff Rowe, CEO of the Syngenta Group, doesn’t often get home to his farm near Princeton, Illinois. He’s usually operating from his base in Basel, Switzerland, instead. But when he does get back to the Midwest, you might catch up to him running a planter in the spring or the combine in the fall, just […] Read more
The formula for farm growth
Capital + Risk + Execution = Farm SUCCESS
Reading Time: 3 minutes “Change is inevitable, growth is optional.” That’s how John C. Maxwell said it, and he might have said it best. It’s easy to look around the ag industry and see changes in the landscape. Suppliers, competitors and customers are consolidating and growing. Yet growth is often met with more scorn in farming than in these […] Read more
Finance 101 – What is a business plan?
There’s more at stake this winter, and more than ever to gain
Reading Time: 5 minutes A business plan is like a road map for your farm. You can plan your route, set a destination and track progress. But without a map or a plan, how does a farm business owner know what success looks like, or even what you’re capable of achieving? Or, most importantly, how do you know when […] Read more
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
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
