Reading Time: 6 minutes Quick, name five strengths that farmers need in order to get their day’s work done. It’s simple, right? You need technological, financial, production, and mechanical skills, and of course, we should never forget hands-on experience. Now, just as fast, list five leadership skills that farmers need for success into the future… Not so easy, is […] Read more
Are you a good leader on your farm?
Like never before, your farm needs new leadership for a new business environment. Are you getting the job done? Rate yourself on these five key leadership traits
Talking things out is the key to a successful farm
Guide Thrive 2015: It’s simple enough to avoid discussing the big things and the little things that really matter. It’s just that most farms will never really thrive until you do
Reading Time: 8 minutes Megan McKenzie has observed elections in Congo, she has documented human rights issues in Columbia and the Middle East, she has worked at a reconciliation centre in Ireland, and along the way she has earned a doctorate in conflict resolution and international peace studies, along with mediation training. All this despite growing up on a […] Read more
Once you get to the top…
Corn Guide: For the corn-growing Cantelon family, it just means you’re partway there
Reading Time: 5 minutes Wayne Cantelon is a lot like other farmers. He works a substantial number of acres with his father, brother and son, and he’s always trying to improve conditions and production. And just like a lot of other farmers, too, he’s hesitant to consider himself a leader or an innovator. In spite of that reluctance, Cantelon, […] Read more
The best farm advice
These five questions will help you be sure you’ve got the right business advisers for your farm
Reading Time: 8 minutes It’s not a bad thing to seek outside advice — as long as it’s good advice. No matter how smart you are, you can’t be aware of all your options and opportunities. We all need great input that we can ruminate on, evaluate and implement, and this great input must come from people we are […] Read more
Are you a ‘one-man show?’
Most farmers are entitled to feel proud. But what happens when your ego won’t fit through the door anymore?
Reading Time: 3 minutes We were starting into a critical phase of succession planning on a family farm, and the farmer had something he wanted me to know. His son wasn’t cut from the same stuff that he was, Paul told me. “He will never be able to succeed like I have.” Paul’s pride, unfortunately, had reached an unhealthy […] Read more
Dealing with stress on the farm
Next time you dig into the farm books, be grateful for what science is learning
Reading Time: 5 minutes For the majority of farmers across Canada, 2014 started with a brutal winter and a brutal load of work, with snow to clear and equipment to thaw. Then came falling grain prices, thinning margins, and the race to be on top of absolutely every financial detail. In other words, if you believe in stress, this […] Read more
Farm in Germany makes the old world new
This man’s farm really is his castle, bristling with electronics and shrouded in subsidies and regulations
Reading Time: 5 minutes Many Canadian family farms proudly display a “century farm” plaque at their front gates, signifying at least 100 years of uninterrupted family ownership. But as impressive as that may be, 100 years hardly registers on the European scale. The Graf family of North Rhine-Westphalia, a province in northern Germany, can trace its ownership back to 1340. […] Read more
Grow from within: Three timely reads for farms at a crossroads
Sometimes, that streak of independence in farmers is simple bullheadedness. Other times, it’s business smarts at their sharpest
Reading Time: 6 minutes Books Reviewed Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success (HarperCollins, 2010) By Matthew Syed Chasing Stars: The Myth of Talent and the Portability of Performance (Princeton University Press, 2010) By Boris Groysberg Scaling Up Excellence: Getting to More Without Settling for Less (Random House, 2014) By Robert I. Sutton and Huggy Rao When the big […] Read more
If the good times are gone
Can your farm survive the next 25 years at this winter's grain prices? It may have to
Reading Time: 5 minutes Since 2007, grain producers have profited from unprecedented high grain prices. Even this year’s record yields and high crop insurance payments have moderated the impact of the recent drop in grain prices. Most growers continue to feel the good times they have experienced for the past six years are going to continue. Gary Schnitkey thinks such farmers are wrong, maybe even fatally wrong. Schnitkey […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
