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 […] Read more
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
Small SWOT, big ideas
Summer Business: This exercise to determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats can be a best next step for smaller farms
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 […] Read more
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[...]
Read more
Read more
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
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[...]
Read more
Read more
The brother and sister advantage: Melinda Foster-Marshall and Mark Foster of Jockbrae Farms
Just because they’re siblings doesn’t mean Melinda and Mark instantly agree on everything. But they have a system for finding common ground, and once they’ve found it, they commit
Reading Time: 5 minutes Mark Foster and his sister Melinda Foster-Marshall never thought they’d be farming together. They had different personalities and routes through high school, but they have created roles and responsibilities and processes that are allowing their individual strengths to create a successful farming business. Melinda has a degree in geological sciences from Queen’s University and was[...]
Read more
Read more
Young and old
The farm version of the generation gap means that succession talks on many farms stall before they even get a fair chance to start. Here, adviser Delores Moskal shares her ideas for seeing eye to eye
Reading Time: 6 minutes When it comes time to put succession planning on your personal agenda, there are only a couple of ways for it to go, says Delores Moskal. There are the parents who are open to talking succession with the next generation. And then there are parents reluctant to even broach the subject with the kids. So[...]
Read more
Read more
Bounce back, don’t break
What makes some farms so resilient in tough economic times? Finally, this New Zealand research finds some answers
Reading Time: 6 minutes Australia and New Zealand have had their fair share of agricultural challenges. They’ve known fires, tsunamis and cyclones, to name a natural few, and they have suffered from the politics of export markets, not to mention supply-demand crashes in world prices for wool, beef and milk. And that’s without mentioning droughts which, according to Australia’s[...]
Read more
Read more
Young farmers talk about their future
We find out what these university students are thinking as they prepare to head home to the farm. They know their opportunities are great, but their challenges are humbling too
Reading Time: 9 minutes A gaggle in ball caps, T-shirts, jeans and flannel politely stumbled off the bus. They’re third-year students in the University of McGill’s farm management and technology program, and they were on a tour of Ontario farms. They stopped at mine to discuss business structure, succession and the future of agriculture. On closer look and listen,[...]
Read more
Read more
Never too young to talk about farm succession
As the Ellis family is learning, there’s no such thing as too soon for starting the conversation about farm succession
Reading Time: 7 minutes Lincoln Ellis has just got his first taste of combining. “He thought it was pretty interesting for the first 10 minutes, and then he realized how small the combine cab was, and that was about it,” says his dad, Simon Ellis, with a chuckle. “So it was short-lived, but you know, small steps for now.[...]
Read more
Read more
A farm for all
For the Burns family, the goal has always been a farm with a place for the entire family. Now it’s the reality too
Reading Time: 5 minutes John Burns had spent eight years getting a PhD in chemistry and two years working at the Department of National Defence in Kingston, Ont., but his Saskatchewan farm roots began to beckon and he jumped at the chance to get out of the lab and do some off-campus teaching, which led him to the area[...]
Read more
Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
