Reading Time: 7 minutes Is the world really made of up “dreamers” and “doers”? And if so, which one comes out ahead? Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow believed that “One half of the world must sweat and groan that the other half may dream.” Dreamers, who are more inclined towards imagination, creativity and possibilities, are in stark contrast to doers […] Read more
Dreamer versus Doer: Harnessing creativity in farm businesses
Connecting your internal dreamer with real-world doing can lead to big wins on the farm
Diversifying the farm helps build a new business
Who has time to manage a bigger, more diversified farm? The Boldts found how to say, “We do!”
Reading Time: 11 minutes When Melanie Boldt pivoted her business from a grain farm to the first vertically integrated meat producer and market in Saskatchewan, she took a “just do it” approach and leaned into the challenge to change, diversify and expand her family farm. That was 26 years ago, and looking back, Boldt says she’s not sure she […] Read more
Pair combine efforts for pet food business
Nicole Porterfield and Kim Good have a word of advice for your value-add project. Whether it’s big or small, you’ve got to build a great team
Reading Time: 9 minutes Whether you’re looking for a banker, accountant or lawyer, or whether you’re pursuing a new customer, what you’re actually doing is building a team that understands what you are trying to achieve, says Alberta’s Kim Good, co-owner with Nicole Porterfield of Farm Fresh Pet Foods based in Edmonton. If they don’t have faith in you, […] Read more
A farmer’s appetite for learning
Continuous improvement: The next generation of farmers is ready to lead
Reading Time: 3 minutes Today’s farmers are confident. They are finding their voices and they are finally becoming viewed as the powerhouses they are. Farmers are hungry to learn and they are also hungry to educate others. They are educating politicians, society and industry on the strength of their operations and on the economic contributions they make. Today’s farmers […] 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
The first-generation farmers of Hillside Dreams Goat Dairy
Like other new farmers across Canada, Barrie and Merel Voth may not produce the commodities you’d expect, or farm at the scale you’d like, but they’re committed, brave, and very, very smart
Reading Time: 6 minutes How serious are Barrie and Merel Voth about their start-up goat dairy venture? Serious enough that they wrote exactly two exit options into their farm lease agreement. Bankruptcy. Or death. “Oh, but don’t write that!” says Merel. In April last year, when they signed on the dotted line for their five-year lease agreement at Silver […] Read more
Your value-added idea
These tips from successful farmers can help you develop that winning concept
Reading Time: 5 minutes Entrepreneurial talent seems to come naturally to many farmers. But that doesn’t mean you’ll always be a natural at value adding. There’s a world of difference between getting a good deal on a load of fertilizer versus launching a new value-added product. In fact, value adding can feel like uncharted territory. But that can be […] Read more
A jam of a business
If you haven’t heard of Vanilla Spice Pear Butter or Sundae in a Jar, these young entrepreneurs have some lessons to teach
Reading Time: 6 minutes When Kylie Wasiuta and Sara Porter met a decade ago, they were in their teens and into reining and horses, completely consumed with showing and competing for prizes. They still found time to share some homemade jam, however, but who then could have predicted their jam-making savvy would bloom into a full-fledged business? “I grew […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
