Reading Time: 5 minutes This fall a salesman for a soil amendment product told me that if I used his product, I would be more successful. When I asked him if anyone around was using the product, he replied: “Some of the most successful farmers use it.” In past, salespeople have often told me that using their products will […] Read more
Finding success
Are we chasing a dream, or living one?
Get more for your farm family
Reading Time: 3 minutes I have been the witness to several successful farm operations over the last number of years. I count myself lucky as someone who gets to see what innovation, smart business practice and communication can achieve on family farms. The majority of what I see doesn’t surprise me. And it frustrates me when people act surprised […] Read more
To play in the big leagues
Investors with deep pockets are asking, “Why aren’t Canada’s ag entrepreneurs taking the world by storm?” Now they think they’ve figured out how to join in making it happen
Reading Time: 6 minutes From his desk in San Diego, former farm manager turned corporate investor Arama Kukutai has been pitched 822 times in the last year by farmers, ag scientists and entrepreneurs, all of them wanting to use his money to grow their brainwaves into the next Apples and Amazons of the world’s $3 trillion ag market. Almost […] Read more
Editor’s Note: Get in with the right questions
If you want to know who is going to be farming five years from now, then taking a look at who is in the aisles at Ag in Motion and at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show is a good place to start
Reading Time: 2 minutes Business schools teach a useful rule. Whether you’re CEO of Ford or if you run a Mom and Pop restaurant, they say, you should spend 80 per cent of your time working on the nuts and bolts of how you make the right quality product at the right price. That seems about right for the […] Read more
From planning to implementation
AME Management: Get into these management habits. They will help you develop the strategic objectives that will drive your farm where you want it to go, and then help you achieve real progress toward them
Reading Time: 4 minutes In our past column, we reviewed the habits of successful agricultural managers. One habit is that successful managers don’t just do strategic and operational planning, they translate their plans into action — i.e. they have a process to implement the plan. Like most farmers, many CTEAM participants have had little experience or training in planning […] Read more
Stress tests for change
Here’s a quick way to keep your eye on your cash flow projections this summer to help you plan loan payments and expenses this fall
Reading Time: 4 minutes Knowing how to read and understand financial statements is one of the first steps in assessing financial risk, helping you track how you’re doing compared to previous years (or against sector averages), and how any changes may have an impact on your bank account. From a financial perspective, stress testing can be the ultimate proactive […] Read more
Getting ‘lean’ for farming
Small farms like Ben Hartman’s can be among the first to boost their numbers by adopting lean, but there are lessons for all
Reading Time: 8 minutes If they have heard about “lean” management, most business managers think of it in the context of lean manufacturing, a system pioneered by Japanese car maker Toyota in the 1970s. Now, however, more farmers are successfully applying lean principles to their farms, and they’re ending up with healthier balance sheets as a result. One of […] Read more
The leader’s job
Summer Business: Boehringer Ingelheim’s Susan Blair shares how lessons from the farm help in the corporate world, and how lessons from the boardroom can make a big difference back on the farm
Reading Time: 7 minutes [Updated April 27, 2017] Susan Blair makes her point. An organization has a much better chance of success, she says, when leadership gives clear direction to their teams about what they’re working toward and how they’re expected to achieve it. But then she follows through, because in Blair’s view, that kind of success demands leaders […] Read more
The inclusive, prosperous farm
Looking to boost your farm’s numbers? Bring a diverse work force to the job, and set them up to perform at their best
Reading Time: 5 minutes As farm businesses grow and become more complex, farmers are recognizing the importance of harnessing the full potential of the farm’s human resources. This means creating an inclusive workplace where both male and female members of the team can thrive and help the farm business meet its goals. A diverse workforce, it turns out, will […] Read more
Job descriptions: The right HR tool for our farms
“Self-efficacy” is a concept worth learning for farmers who want to manage their way to better farm productivity
Reading Time: 5 minutes “It’s different than self-esteem,” says Sara Mann, of the University of Guelph. “Self-esteem is your overall belief in yourself. Self-efficacy is task specific… it’s the belief that you can actually do your job.” Self-efficacy is an idea whose time is right, says Mann, who has trained over 120 farm owners and supervisors on how to […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
