Reading Time: 4 minutes Working with family can be difficult, but successful sibling agricultural operations seem to leverage the unique advantages of their relationships to create growth for their farms.
The Secret Sauce of Sibling Run Farms
Sibling business partnerships can offer a farm business unique advantages
Tips for how to be fair to all siblings during farm succession
This six-part series explores the challenges of sibling conflict and the effect it can have on the farm
Reading Time: 4 minutes Siblings often have differing visions for the farm’s future. This article offers tips for navigating this sticky situation.
How to talk about your farm succession plan
Estate planning is never easy — and more difficult still is the conversations you need to have with your family. But these conversations can be a great opportunity to teach the next generation about money, family relationships and how to make decisions together
Reading Time: 5 minutes You’ve worked hard your whole life and lived within your means. Now, you want your estate to help the future generation succeed — not create problems or heartache for your family. But if you want your estate to create a legacy of positivity, you’ll have to proactively communicate your wishes through an estate plan. Like […] Read more
The farm transition trial
Transitioning the farm from one generation to the next is often fraught with challenges and can be an adventure into the unknown. But a focus on the bigger picture can help keep everyone aligned and form the basis for important decisions
Reading Time: 8 minutes For anyone affected by cancer, they have likely heard the adage that “a person doesn’t get cancer, the family does.” When 45-year-old grain farmer KR Vreeling was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2009, he and his wife, Tammy, realized they needed to expedite their farm transition plan or, at the very least, that they needed […] Read more
The wildly adaptable side of next gen agriculture
Millennials are not all about avocado toast. This generation is not afraid to question the way things have always been done in the ag industry if it means building a stronger future
Reading Time: 4 minutes Some people just fall into the world of agriculture — and consider themselves lucky to have stumbled into such a happening industry. Kelsey Owen-Cooper is one of those people. Owen-Cooper grew up in rural Ontario, surrounded by farm influences. Her grandparents grew up on farms, her father worked on a local dairy (frequent visits to […] Read more
Sibling issues in farm succession
A six-part series exploring the challenges of sibling conflict and the effect it can have on the farm
Reading Time: 5 minutes Advice on handling sibling conflict and the effect it can have on the farm
How to develop a leader’s mindset at every stage of your career
Summer Series: Leadership looks different at every stage of your farm career. And the stories you hear, the ones you seek out or the ones you tell yourself all effect how you lead
Reading Time: 3 minutes From the time we are born stories help us learn important lessons. Every day I look around for stories that can help me understand what is or isn’t working on our farm. It might be small anecdotes or maybe a line from an employee or a supplier that sticks with me. If I can understand […] Read more
Can slowing down farm succession really work?
Summer Series: Designating more time to the farm transition process can mean less stress and more choices
Reading Time: 4 minutes When I ask farmers to guess how long it will take to complete a transition plan, they usually say one to two years. The reality is that it takes much longer. In a 2017 survey by Business Development Canada (BDC), five out of six entrepreneurs believed that the transition process can be completed in two […] Read more
How to talk about your farm succession estate plans
Summer Series: Estate planning is never easy — and more difficult still is the conversations you need to have with your family. But these conversations can be a great opportunity to teach the next generation about money, family relationships and how to make decisions together
Reading Time: 5 minutes You’ve worked hard your whole life and lived within your means. Now, you want your estate to help the future generation succeed — not create problems or heartache for your family. But if you want your estate to create a legacy of positivity, you’ll have to proactively communicate your wishes through an estate plan. Like […] Read more
Succession on the farm: Where to begin?
Summer Series: Thinking of farm transition as a short-term, quick deal that we must get right because we only get one chance can prevent us from even starting the process — and starting it off right
Reading Time: 3 minutes I recently polled farm managers about what big projects they were planning for this year. Half the respondents said succession was a priority; however, many indicated that they don’t know where to start. I look at it like this: if you’ve taken your child to the field, or they work alongside you, then you have […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
