Tom Button

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

A hawk on a fence post in Saskatchewan’s Qu’Appelle Valley. (Bobloblaw/iStock/Getty Images)

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: Write it down, add it up

Pandemic planning: Write it down, add it up

It's the big lesson of 2020. A business plan is practically guaranteed to up your game, make you more money, and keep you happier and healthier. So what are you doing this winter?

Reading Time: 6 minutes The number gap is stark. In fact, it’s hard to think where you’d find one that’s wider: 88 per cent of farmers who have a written business plan say their plan has so many benefits (both to the farm and to themselves as farmers) that it more than pays for itself. Yet only 21 per […] Read more

Pandemic planning: Groundwork

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


A coach can serve as an objective thought partner, helping a farmer get clear on what they want to accomplish.

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

How do you bridge the gap between the reality of how best to run the farm while making room for your own kids’ ideas?

Prepping the kids for the financial reality of farm ownership

It may be the biggest question of all. When is the right time to give the kids a voice in business planning?

Reading Time: 3 minutes Now that summer’s on the doorstep, the kids are home from school, and your planning and preparation for the growing season are over, it’s an ideal time to have some important conversations with your family members around succession planning. As anyone who has gone through the process knows, succession planning within the family can be […] Read more


Spouses are realizing that farm operations require a much more structured business planning approach.

Between spouses

Formalizing the informal partnership

Reading Time: 3 minutes Joint ownership between spouses has been a long-standing fixture in the farming community, with each holding equal influence when it comes to making key business decisions. It is widely acknowledged and recognized that spouses are key influencers in business decisions. They have always stood front and centre in financial negotiations, are equal participants in professional […] Read more

“They come to realize that it’s not just driving tractors or hauling grain,” Colin Penner says. “It’s the whole picture.”

Smarter than you think

Here’s what your kids come home having learned about business at ag college. It’s much, much more than even a few years ago

Reading Time: 9 minutes When Colin Penner enrolled as a student in the University of Manitoba’s agricultural diploma program 10 years ago, he had to prepare a business plan for his farm. Today, he is back at the U of M as an instructor, teaching other students how to complete today’s planning assignments, which are miles ahead. Preparing a […] Read more


Dana McCauley has been working to launch Accelerator Guelph since she joined the Research Innovation office at the University of Guelph late last year. (John Greig photo)

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

Hand going through the field

Small SWOT, big ideas

Summer Business: This exercise to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats can be a best next step for smaller farms

Reading Time: 4 minutes Over the last four years Ontario organic farmer and consultant David Cohlmeyer has completed over 20 business plans for smaller and medium-sized farms. But before doing a business plan, with updated budget, balance sheets, marketing plans and cash flow statements, Cohlmeyer works with the clients to do a SWOT analysis. “It’s a tool, a good […] Read more