Reading Time: 5 minutes The thing is, you’re going to eat anyway, and probably wear clothes too. When a farmer doesn’t build a salary into their business model, they’ll still spend money on their personal needs and desires. It’s just that the money gets sucked out some other way. Of course it’s an idea that can take some getting […] Read more
Above board
Pay yourself, and put the numbers right from the start in your budgets. It’s better for you, and for the business too
What success really boils down to
Guide Books Review: GRIT | The Power of Passion and Perseverance
Reading Time: 4 minutes GRIT | The Power of Passion and PerseveranceBy Angela Duckworth(Collins, 2018 • 368 pages, $33) What is the secret ingredient to success? Some say it’s innate talent. Others disagree and say it’s all about learned skills or hard work. And still others point to luck and being at the right place at the right time. […] Read more
Women and men in conversation, and at work
Guide Books Review: 'You just don't understand,' and 'Talking from 9 to 5'
Reading Time: 3 minutes You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in ConversationTalking From 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work By Deborah Tannen(Morrow Paperbooks – $20 each) Men and women approach conversations from different linguistic landscapes, and this leads to opposite interpretations of the same words or intentions, and subsequent misunderstandings. “Misunderstandings arise because the styles are […] Read more
Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s Journey
Guide Books Review: “Diversity is a strength in farming,” Rebanks says in his best-seller. But adds, “We do need efficiency gains and we can’t live completely in the past."
Reading Time: 3 minutes Pastoral Song: A Farmer’s JourneyBy James Rebanks Like a lot of farmers, James Rebanks is thoughtful. But unlike the rest of us, his thoughtfulness has helped him write a globally popular, best-selling and prize-winning book. It has even been named a New York Times editors’ book of the year, and it’s all about the questions […] Read more
A novel approach to estate planning
Guide Books Review: To your accountant, the target is to cut estate taxes. Your goal, though, can be to make your prosperity last for generations
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Naked Opus: Growing Your Family Wealth for the Long TermBy Chris Delaney This is a great read, tackling one of the most difficult topics every farm must face. How can a family build a future that lasts for generations instead of frittering away what it has worked so hard to achieve? So let’s start […] Read more
The rise of the new food engineers
Guide Books Review: The biggest threat to your farm isn’t commodity prices or interest rates. It’s science, and what’s going on in these labs
Reading Time: 3 minutes Rethinking Food and Agriculture 2020-2030: The Second Domestication of Plants and Animals, the Disruption of the Cow, and the Collapse of Industrial Livestock FarmingBy Catherine Tubb and Tony Seba How will agriculture, society and the environment be impacted by the onset of intense and broad disruption? It’s way more than COVID-19. Take a big breath […] Read more
A “manual” for the farm
Luke Sheppard’s lessons from 20 years at Deere
Reading Time: 5 minutes What do you get when a John Deere insider writes about business? Well, this is no run-of-the-mill self-help book. It’s designed and written just like that tractor service manual on your shop shelf. It’s packed with specific instructions, diagrams and spreadsheets, all designed to help the reader take logical steps and methodically correct problems or […] Read more
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done
Guide Books Review: To Drucker, the way to thrive is clear. Spend more time on your opportunities, and less on your problems
Reading Time: 3 minutes An effective business executive is a doer who learns how to get the right things done to enhance organizational opportunity. According to Peter Drucker’s book The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done, the effectiveness of an executive’s “doing” rests on five essential practices: time management, choosing what to contribute to […] Read more
I get by with a little help from my friends
We can get better at connecting with other people and developing friendships, and it will add immeasurably to our lives
Reading Time: 5 minutes Do you find yourself craving connection? Wishing you had more friends? Or that you could spend more time with the friends you do have? Do you long to be able to share more of your worries and concerns with your friends? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are in the majority. […] Read more
Bulletproof your Farm
Guide Books Review: “If a family doesn’t take time to talk about — and agree on — a precise end destination, its members will always end up miserable.”
Reading Time: 3 minutes Bulletproof your FarmBy Andy Junkin 128 pages / Published independently If you find yourself in a situation where the family farm business must rapidly change in order to survive, but every partner is fighting for control and not listening to each other, what can you do to motivate everyone to make necessary, life-saving changes? Andy […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
