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 […] Read more
Pay your Millennials right
Too much? Too little? What’s the right compensation for the kids coming back to the farm?
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
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 […] Read more
Transition to better communication
How better succession planning can lead to better decision-making and less conflict
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 […] Read more
Get more for your farm family
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 […] Read more
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
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 […] 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
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
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[...]
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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[...]
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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[...]
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A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
