Reading Time: 5 minutes Imagine there was a relatively simple way you could amp up your leadership skills, reduce your stress, help you more easily resolve conflict and provide insight into what other people are thinking and feeling. Emotional intelligence, first identified by researchers John Mayer and Peter Salovey in 1990, was originally presented as the ability to understand […] Read more
Adding emotional intelligence to your farm toolbox
Strengthening your emotional intelligence can pay big dividends, personally and professionally
An experience to phone home about
Country Guide sat down with several 2024 Outstanding Young Farmers to learn about their experiences and plans for the future. In this first instalment, we speak with the Atlantic regional winner, Geena Luckett
Reading Time: 4 minutes Geena Luckett confesses she often feels she has imposter syndrome. At the age of 11 she transitioned from city girl to farm girl when her dad became a fruit and vegetable producer to supply his specialty grocery stores. Today, she is the co-owner and general manager of Luckett Vineyards in Wallbrook, N.S. Despite taking a […] 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
13 steps to a side hustle on the farm
Reading Time: 5 minutes Stephanie Plaster, a farm management outreach specialist with the University of Wisconsin – Madison Division of Extension, talks with lots of farmers who want to diversify their farms with a value-added enterprise. She uses several tools and exercises to help them plan what they want to do and how to do it. Here is her […] 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
Balancing the ups and downs of raising sheep
The ups and downs of raising sheep can be balanced by a supportive network and shared knowledge
Reading Time: 7 minutes Carla and Tyrone Borsa had already put a lot of research into their Rosthern, Sask., sheep operation even before the first set of cloven hooves hit the pasture in 2022. Almost three years later, that focus on quality sheep production has netted twenty-five mature Dorset ewes and two Canadian Arcott rams. And although the Borsas […] Read more
How these Canadian farms thrive
Like a roadmap, these farms are setting goals to make sure they end up at the right destination
Reading Time: 8 minutes Every January business partners DJ Wassenaar and Matt Bergman take a day to set goals for the coming year. It’s a practice that’s proven successful for their partnership and an integral part of their planning process. “We always need something to aim for, and whether the goal is attainable or not, giving ourselves a direction […] Read more
The numbers you need to know when selling an agribusiness
Learn from an industry leader how to build and generate the total value of your farm. (Hint: it’s never only about the numbers)
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s not easy to sell a business that you’ve poured your heart and soul into. And selling an agribusiness isn’t as simple as selling a piece of equipment or land. Potential buyers must meet the owner’s criteria, often including that they must be a good bet to protect their legacy, which means they may also […] Read more
Information sharing on the family farm
Like it or not, it makes a lot of sense to get much more formal about who you show your business numbers to, and when
Reading Time: 5 minutes Affectionately, on the farm, it gets thought of as “the boardroom.” It’s the kitchen table, but the conversation around it isn’t always so affectionate, or so gentle. The kitchen table can also be host to plenty of uncomfortable questions and conversations, especially if the person asking the questions isn’t getting to see the numbers they […] Read more
Summer Series: ‘Scale up your food ideas!’
[Make it Count] Is the time right to take your big idea to a food development centre? Today’s commodity prices may make this the best year ever to future-proof your farm
Reading Time: 12 minutes Could that idea that you’ve got buzzing around in the back of your head grow into a major commercial success if you took it to a food development centre? Who knows? And how much it would cost? There’s a lot to learn about Canada’s food development centres, but the fact is, few of our farmers […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
