Reading Time: 7 minutes Many farms that incorporate do so for tax purposes. After all, there are definite tax advantages available to a corporation and its shareholders that are not available to individuals or partnerships. But farm businesses should be careful that they don’t let the tax tail wag the dog, says Jerry Lupkowski, a senior partner with MNP […] Read more
Protecting your farm’s assets
These six strategies will ensure you get much more than just the tax benefits of forming a farm corporation
Head of G3 promises to shake up Canada’s grain industry
Karl Gerrand thinks high-speed logistics are the answer to moving grain. But will his competitors play nice?
Reading Time: 7 minutes If there’s one thing Karl Gerrand understands, it’s that Canada’s newest grain company can’t afford to be just another “me too” operator. Gerrand is heading up Global Grain Group, or G3 as it has quickly been dubbed in the business, a phoenix arising from the ashes of the former Canadian Wheat Board with the backing […] Read more
Use financial ratios to diagnose operational issues
AME Management: Different farms have different factors affecting their performance
Reading Time: 3 minutes The profit and loss statement provides three financial ratios that can help identify operational issues and set priorities in your operations plan. The ratios and their benchmarks are: The first and third columns define revenue/earnings and cost categories deducted from them on a standardized operating statement. The second and fourth are the resulting operating and […] Read more
Is your idea marketable?
The BioEnterprise model could help you get your project off the ground
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farmers are known for being natural innovators, and for finding ways of doing things faster, better or easier. What farmer hasn’t thought at least once: “This is a great idea — I bet I could sell it.” But the reality is that there is a long and difficult road between “the great idea” and a […] Read more
Is a family trust right for you?
A trust might be an efficient tool for protecting your farm business or for managing family issues at succession, but they aren’t for everyone
Reading Time: 5 minutes Family trusts are commonly used as a convenient way to own shares in a company and as a succession tool for commercial businesses, but they can also be incorporated into a family farm structure…depending on the circumstances. “A farm corporation may have at its disposal favourable tax rules that may allow it to achieve the […] Read more
What if the party’s over?
Maybe these strategies will keep more of us from repeating the tragic ’80s
Reading Time: 9 minutes What is a grain farmer to do? Encouraged by both record-high crop prices and production over the past few years, you bought more land and upgraded your combine. With record-low interest rates, these were shrewd business decisions that pencilled out. They made sense, right? Except now crop prices are flat, and those responsible for input […] Read more
Forty years of farming requires a spirit for change
It turns out that successful diversification depends on the mindset you bring to it
Reading Time: 5 minutes When Kevin Lisafeld was still a teenager, his mother, Evelyn, told him not to put all his eggs in one basket. That advice has served him well during a 40-year career as a farmer and businessman. But success doesn’t come from diversifying for the sake of diversification. Lisafeld has learned how to spot an opportunity, […] Read more
2016 could be a ‘battleground year’ for commodity prices
A ‘battleground year’ is how analyst Errol Anderson sees 2016. Prices will be profitable… sometimes…but success will only come to producers who rein in their emotions
Reading Time: 8 minutes It isn’t only agriculture. China has become the world’s largest market for an incredibly long list of commodities. Consider the manufacturing industry, for example, where the Chinese generate roughly half of global demand — they use 54 per cent of global aluminum production, 50 per cent of nickel, 48 per cent of copper and 46 […] Read more
Guide HR: Why smart entrepreneurs do stupid things with money
Reading Time: 3 minutes Smart money management flows more from psychology than from math. Even very bright people make terrible financial choices. If we are honest, each of us has a story about how we’ve done dumb things with money. These irrational choices are often the product of some psychological or emotional impulse. As leaders, we think we make […] Read more
Hold on tight. The global economy is a mess
Not even Errol Anderson knows where the pieces will all fall. What’s a farmer to do?
Reading Time: 8 minutes Buckle up. Commodity markets look to be in for a wild ride. China is experiencing its first major setback since its market liberalization began. It generated 40 per cent of global economic growth last year, so this is troubling. If its engine is faltering, everyone is going to feel it. Market analyst Errol Anderson tells […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
