Reading Time: 4 minutes The growing gap between consumer demand and the ability of the farm business community to meet that demand presents a dangerous vacuum for small farmers, believes Charlie Touchette, executive director of the North American Farmers’ Direct Marketing Association. It could, he says, become a vacuum that gets filled by corporate entities rather than local producers. […] Read more
Is direct-farm marketing an opportunity for larger farms?
Out-competed by Ukraine
Massive Ukrainian farms are producing grain and getting it into export position for $100/t less than in Canada
Reading Time: 6 minutes In the last issue of Country Guide, I wrote of my travels in China, and of how that trip made me question the true competitiveness of Canadian agriculture. Unfortunately, a new Australian study validates many of my concerns. “Ukraine: An emerging challenge for Australian wheat exports” is the third study from the Australian Export Grains […] Read more
Your own HR scorecard
Guide Excellence: These tools can help you assess your skills and figure out what strengths you can build on, what skills you need to sharpen, and where you should hire help
Reading Time: 5 minutes There was a time when going up against your neighbours in a plowing match was the best and sometimes really the only way for farmers to assess their skill level. But that was then. Today, farm businesses have grown way more sophisticated and, although they still aren’t always easy to find, skills assessments have improved […] Read more
4 ways to structure farm diversification
Before rolling a new enterprise into the main farm, stop, think and talk about how this is going to fit into your operation long term
Reading Time: 8 minutes Maybe it’s something you just want to do. It might be manufacturing a new farm widget or selling birdseed, or producing heritage pork, or grazing sheep. Or maybe your son or daughter has graduated from agricultural college and they want to come home after a few years working off farm. You know there’s risk with […] Read more
Editor’s Desk: A better marketing idea for agriculture
Reading Time: 2 minutes Marketing is in a class by itself. Nowhere else in agriculture is there so much more noise than information, or so many claims based on untested and untestable evidence. As a rule, of course, the entire financial and business ends of farming let us down in this regard, and I have complained in this space […] Read more
Driving a bargain
Are you actually as good a negotiator as you think?
Reading Time: 4 minutes If you ask a non-farmer what skills you need as a farmer, the answer at the top of their list may be driving a tractor. Ask a farmer, and it’s more likely to be driving a hard bargain. Negotiating skills have been an essential part of farming for generations, so it’s no surprise that farmers […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
