Reading Time: 7 minutes Hiring farm business advisors isn’t a new concept, but the creative ways some of them are approaching consulting is worth a second thought.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor Today’s farm operations are growing ever more complex. There are crucial production, financial, human resource, marketing and other management decisions to be made, and it is impossible […] Read more
Summer Series: Building a better farm business
[Best Advice] Is Trish Fournier creating the new template for how Canada’s farms will inject cutting-edge financial skills and strategic business acumen into their mid- to large-size operations?
Realizing the good idea
Everyone wants a chance to do something good for their community. How do you make that happen? Here is FMC’s plan
Reading Time: 5 minutes Countless surveys show the same results. The world has changed. In today’s post-Covid-19 times, we all want more. Or, to put it more accurately, we all want to do more. If you aren’t keeping up on the field called corporate responsibility it might be a good time for a long, hard look in the mirror. […] Read more
Win, win, win
These companies have found the recipe. What ideas can you borrow?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Like clockwork every May there are big headlines and even bigger press releases from the winners when Deloitte Canada releases its list of the country’s best managed companies. Deloitte’s accolade has to be earned. It takes more than a healthy bottom line. Businesses have to be robust, and resilient. To sort the winners from the […] Read more
Be your own futurist
Futurology: Forward-thinking farmers and experts aim to predict future changes for Canadian ag
Reading Time: 6 minutes If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s about how many of us get so much about the future so wrong. Change happens quickly and you need to adapt fast. Maybe you scrambled for extra labour when someone on your team caught COVID-19. Maybe you sold cattle when consecutive drought years increased feed […] Read more
Editor’s Note: Making up your mind in 2022
It’s what people who aren’t business leaders rarely understand. Leadership means knowing how to make big decisions when you don’t have full information, like this year
Reading Time: 2 minutes I have been asking myself this question all spring. I’m sure you have been too. Five years from now, when we look back at 2022, who are we going to say made the best decisions? Who pulled the right levers? What choices turned out to be the right decisions? Which turned out to be not […] Read more
Indigenous-led ag projects get federal funding
Funding to support business planning and other studies
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sixteen projects to help support Indigenous-led food system initiatives will receive $4 million from the federal government. “Our government is working to create a more inclusive agriculture sector that respects the values of Indigenous Peoples,” Agriculture Minister Marie Claude Bibeau said in a statement Friday. “These investments are intended to ensure that Indigenous Peoples have […] Read more
Pandemic planning: Groundwork
What will Canada's food system look like as we roll toward 2021? And how will you be able to build on those changes to make the family farm more resilient, more sustainable, and a better business?
Reading Time: 8 minutes Resilience has two halves. The part that automatically comes to mind is the way a truly resilient business can take a punch without shutting down. It can survive a bout of bad weather, bad markets, a black swan. But there’s something else too. It isn’t just that a resilient farm keeps breathing. It’s that a […] Read more
How about a life coach?
More farmers are turning to life coaches to help them strengthen themselves, their families and their businesses
Reading Time: 5 minutes In the 30 years since the first coaching programs were developed, the field of coaching has exploded. You’ll find coaches who specialize in a broad range of areas including business, leadership, personal development, wellness, financial management and more. While coaching has been gaining popularity in the corporate world for the past decade, farmers are now […] Read more
Guelph to host new agri-food accelerator
Reading Time: 3 minutes The University of Guelph has created a new organization to help launch agri-food ideas and innovations. Accelerator Guelph aims to provide business training, help create networks and provide a process to innovators in agriculture and food at the university. Why does it matter? Getting research and great ideas from university researchers to the market has […] Read more
Three key alignments for top farm management
AME Management: Define your management structure for the future
Reading Time: 3 minutes When the planets align, life on the farm can be very rewarding, like when your weather is perfect at the same time that there are production shortfalls in other parts of the world and you can price into market highs. There are other alignments, however, that are much more within your control when you are […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
