Tag Archives family farm

Seven rules of behaviour for family farm teams
General

Seven rules of behaviour for family farm teams

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When the next generation comes home, Elaine Froese says families can set up some rules of engagement right away so everyone knows and can operate within that culture. When new people join the team, it can help to clarify expectations. “Culture is the invisible glue that holds the farm and the family together. It is[...]
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Young farmers in soybean fields before harvest
Guide Business, Management

Pay your Millennials right

Too much? Too little? What’s the right compensation for the kids coming back to the farm?

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Reading Time: 7 minutes Figuring how to compensate Millennials can be like driving through a snowstorm. You can’t see what’s ahead, there’s a very real possibility that you’ll hit the ditch. And yet you’ve got to get there. Country Guide caught up with New Brunswick farmer and consultant Cedric MacLeod as he was driving home through a snowstorm. At[...]
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Judge's legal gavel and Family Court nameplate
Guide Business

Courting disaster

When farm families end up in court, winners are few and very far between. Still, more and more families are ending up before a judge

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Reading Time: 10 minutes The British press has given Welsh farmer Eirian Davies her own nickname, the “Cowshed Cinderella,” even though the court case that she brought against her parents, claiming they had reneged on a promise that she would inherit the family dairy farm, certainly didn’t have a fairy-tale ending. When the courts awarded a C$2.2 million settlement[...]
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Two couples walking by cornfield
Guide Business, Management

Transition to better communication

How better succession planning can lead to better decision-making and less conflict

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Reading Time: 8 minutes Too many times, farm succession planning starts with a series of useless, dead-end and sometimes volatile meetings. Someone erupts into tears, someone else mutters some nasty words in anger and frustration and all our hopes crash in flames. No wonder we are afraid of stirring up this toxic mess of emotions. We’re supposed to be[...]
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Family portrait standing in front of a red barn on the farm.
Guide Business, Management

Get more for your farm family

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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[...]
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Wheat fields being harvested
Guide Business

Incorporation pushes farms into higher gear

With 30,000 incorporated farms on 50 million acres, farm incorporation is on the rise in Canada, and not just because of the tax savings. In fact, these other benefits can be even more valuable

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Somewhere between loading trucks and getting ready for seeding on his family’s farm near Fort MacLeod, Alta., Stephen Vandervalk stops midway through our conversation, breathes deeply and tilts his head. “I can’t even imagine trying to operate without a corporation,” he says. “How could we compete to buy land at 35 to 45 per cent[...]
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If all your family remembers about life on the farm is all the work and all your stress, why wouldn’t your kids leave for the city?
Guide Life

Memories to build on

Capitalize on the summer to create lasting memories for your family. They’re the first step in a healthy succession process

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Although a strong work ethic is always a point of pride in agriculture, the farm family also needs to celebrate its successes and to understand why you do all that hard work in the first place. That kind of perspective doesn’t grow by accident. Even so, says Rick Dehod, a provincial farm financial specialist with[...]
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Hand going through the field
Guide Business, Management

Small SWOT, big ideas

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

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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[...]
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The power of a letter to get unstuck
General

The power of a letter to get unstuck

Sometimes we have to go back to basics in order to keep healthy change happening on our farms. Lately in my transition seminars I have been encouraging frustrated young farmers to write a letter of intent to their founding parents. People who are stuck with a large degree of anxiety and overwhelm from not knowing[...]
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Of course, everyone wants to say it’s all sunshine and rainbows,” says Sarah. But she and Jake agree it’s important they not let anything simmer.
Crops, Guide Business

The brother and sister advantage: Jake and Sarah Leguee of Leguee Farms

Off-farm work and a five-year plan helped this brother and sister team prepare for the non-stop challenges of farming

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Reading Time: 4 minutes Leguee Farms has also found a balance that allows it to grow and succeed in Saskatchewan in grains and oilseeds. Communication and defined roles enable the family to run a large business together, and also to live nearby and have harmony during family get togethers. Unlike Misty Glen, Jake and Sarah Leguee’s father Russ is[...]
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