Reading Time: 4 minutes In the final installment of our five-part series featuring farm families leading change, we hear from the Walshes — how they build a strong business by focusing first on a strong family Earlier in the series we highlighted families who have made bold strides through their business operations and family planning initiatives (you can find […] Read more
Bold strides: Moving forward by stepping back from the farm
In the final instalment of our five-part series featuring farm families leading change, we hear from the Walshes — how they build a strong business by focusing first on a strong family
Farm managers take to the field
Huge chunks of American farmland are getting farmed by professional, accredited managers who work for families who don’t want to farm anymore, but also don’t want to sell
Reading Time: 6 minutes Professional farm management is serious business south of the border. Now, based on today’s trendlines, most insiders are predicting it’s only going to grow and spread. Will it grow in Canada too? Country Guide will look into that question in our next issue, but it’s worth pointing out that the share of farmland that’s rented […] Read more
Bold strides: Finding balance between generations
In our continuing series on farm families that are embracing change with their bold decision-making, we feature a family in the midst of launching their ‘G2’ to ‘G3’ farm transition plan, fully aware they must navigate the needs of both the entering and the exiting generations if they hope to ensure the farm and family remains in harmony for years to come
Reading Time: 4 minutes The DeJong family operate a diverse agriculture business an hour east of Toronto at Baltimore, Ont., and the farming brothers, Rod and Chris, have their own farming ventures — Knollcrest Poultry and Knollcrest Swine respectively — which they operate alongside their wives Nancy and Amy. Despite being focused on their individual farms, the brothers also […] Read more
In search of the next big idea
How would you know if there’s an option out there that is just right for your farm?
Reading Time: 3 minutes When somebody wants to sell you something, they have to talk it up. That’s fair. Everyone knows it’s a basic business principle. They also know the importance of buyer beware. Today, though, there just seems to be so much hype around, especially if you’re talking new ideas for differentiating what your farm produces. It can […] Read more
How to become the partner everyone wants to work with
On today’s larger farms, the partners are up close. They’re your relatives. They farm out of the same yard. Shouldn’t they recognize what you bring to the farm? Maybe not, says cross-border farm advisor Andy Junkin
Reading Time: 3 minutes Maybe your partner is your parent, in-law, sibling, cousin or friend. It doesn’t matter. At some point, says advisor Andy Junkin, there is bound to be tension in the relationship. In fact, if you dig into any farm, that kind of tension is something you’re bound to see, which explains why he calls his service […] Read more
The view at year 8
Like so many young farmers, what Dane Froese wants isn’t so different from what his parents wanted at his age. But can he find his way there in farming today?
Reading Time: 14 minutes Growing up, I always admired the work that Dad did on the farm,” says Dane Froese, 30 years old and eight years into his plan to become a fourth-generation farmer at Winkler, an hour and a half south of Winnipeg. Froese doesn’t round off the edges. He knows what he wants, And he knows it […] Read more
A clear view for a multi-enterprise agri-business
On farms like Terry Aberhart’s, the big transformation has come from learning how to manage the farm as a multi-enterprise business
Reading Time: 10 minutes As farms grow, they get connected to more people with more kinds of expertise and they get linked into more and wider networks than ever. The immediate goal may be to get on top of a problem that’s in front of them today, but almost inevitably this helps them see more opportunities, and it opens […] Read more
Be your own futurist
Futurology: Forward-thinking farmers and experts aim to predict future changes for Canadian ag
Reading Time: 6 minutes If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s about how many of us get so much about the future so wrong. Change happens quickly and you need to adapt fast. Maybe you scrambled for extra labour when someone on your team caught COVID-19. Maybe you sold cattle when consecutive drought years increased feed […] Read more
Have a decade-long plan for farm succession
Every farm has at least 10 jobs that take 10 years to learn. No wonder transitions are so complicated
Reading Time: 8 minutes Whatever word you use — whether you call it wisdom or if you think of it as insight — it may always be essential for running any farm but it is doubly important during transition. That’s “doubly” for a good reason, because not only does the senior generation need insight into the transition process if […] Read more
Do you have a plan to learn?
A systematic approach to continuous learning is strongly linked to higher farm success
Reading Time: 5 minutes The 2015 Dollars and Sense study by Farm Management Canada is still among the most comprehensive surveys to look at which farm practices in Canada increase a farm’s business success and by how much. Here are the practices. Which is the best sign that you’re firing on all cylinders? You have a written business plan. […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
