Reading Time: 3 minutes After a busy day, have you ever looked back and thought, “What did I get done today? Did I check anything off my must-do list?” As author James Clear said so perfectly: “Being in motion (busy) does not equal action.” In the coaching world we call busy days “buffer days” since they act as a […] Read more
When motion doesn’t equal action
Farmers are busy. But does all the busy-ness mean that you’re getting things done?
The farmer’s playbook
Consider these plays to arrive, thrive and survive in 2025
Reading Time: 3 minutes Walmart turns over its on-shelf inventory 9.4 times every calendar year. But farmers only get one kick at the can. In fact, it has been said that over a farmer’s career many will only hit a home run about seven times. That means the variance for errors is very small, and the planning component in […] Read more
When farm plans fail
If you’ve been talking for years about planning something for the farm, maybe it’s time to look at why you’re stuck
Reading Time: 3 minutes “It’s been 10 years, and we still don’t have a plan.” If this sounds like something you’ve said to yourself, have you also asked, “Why don’t we?” Ten years talking about making a plan but still not having it written down, or not making any real changes in the way your farm operates, can be […] Read more
Ten years on the farm
Canadian producers share the biggest lessons after a decade of farming
Reading Time: 8 minutes Ten years. It breaks down into 3,652 days, or over 87,000 hours. In that way, 10 years can seem like a lot of time. Yet in others, such as when managing a busy farm, it can pass in the blink of an eye. And that decade is certainly filled with vast knowledge acquisition, unexpected surprises […] Read more
Beliefs your farm could be better without
Why don’t farm transition plans advance over time? Usually because families fall into one of these thinking traps
Reading Time: 3 minutes Beliefs, or “the rules we live by,” deeply influence our choices and assumptions. They show up in our day-to-day lives and we treat them as respected “facts,” when that may not be the case. We tend not to question or consider whether these beliefs are true. These rules are often learned in the household in […] Read more
2022-Level Farm Profits are Over. What’s Next?
Reading Time: 2 minutes It looks like 2022-level profitability is over for farms in Western Canada. The decline of commodity markets combined with ever-increasing costs is pressuring 2025 farm budgets. So, if grain farming is back to squeaking out a profit for the foreseeable future, what can we do about it? 1. Confront the facts, but don’t lose faith […] 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
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
The math checks out
A theory once applied to cycling can help your farm make big gains
Reading Time: 10 minutes What happens if you squeeze a few extra drops out of an orange while making juice? One small extra sip, of course. But what if you squeezed out a few extra drops from 1,000 oranges? You’d get a lot more orange juice at no extra cost. Could the same be true of food production? Why […] Read more
Turning tough farm conversations into soft landings
How can you discuss the things that matter most without everyone blowing their lids, and you blowing yours too?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Are you even a real farmer if you haven’t had any tough conversations on the farm? All kidding aside, running a business with family and often non-family employees can involve some difficult and emotionally charged conversations. Country Guide searched out three books written by professors, corporate trainers and members of the Harvard Negotiation Project for […] Read more
More owners at your farm table
Bringing more siblings and cousins on board can strengthen your farm, but be sure to do it right
Reading Time: 3 minutes Through history, most farms ended up sold or split between siblings. Today, however, we’re seeing a big change. Rather than splitting the farm, family farm groups made up of siblings and cousins are increasingly sticking together. Sometimes these groups become active farming operations. In other families, they hold the land. While good for the continuity […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
