Reading Time: 5 minutes So you think you have a great idea for a value-added business on your farm. Before you even begin to evaluate your idea to see if it will fly, however, it’s a good idea to ask the even more basic question: Is this kind of business venture a good fit for you and your family? […] Read more
Will value adding on the farm work for you?
This first in our four-part series on value adding for farmers starts with the most important question of all
Farmers finding the right image
More farmers across the country are taking charge of their image, for the good of their farms, and the good of the industry
Reading Time: 10 minutes Located just 20 minutes southwest of Montreal, the farm looks a lot different today than when it was established by Elwood and Marie Quinn in 1982. It sounds a lot different too, which is just what they wanted. Thanks to Philippe and Stephanie Quinn, the farm’s second generation, the enterprise has been transformed from a […] Read more
Culture of thankfulness works, even for farming
Guide Thrive 2015: These practical tips will help your farm tap the proven benefits of gratitude
Reading Time: 4 minutes Your parents might have taught you to always say thank you, but even they couldn’t have known how powerful a lesson they were teaching. In order to thrive, you must be grateful. Farmers can be skeptical, but research has proven it time and again. Gratitude is essential for living a life that is experienced as […] Read more
Country Guide’s plan for your farm to thrive in 2015
Hitting any of these 10 targets can make 2015 a year to remember. So get inspired. Pick goals that fit your farm and your vision. The whole year is waiting
Reading Time: 11 minutes A winter wheat leaf pokes through the snow. In the frozen white, that hardy leaf means hope and even optimism. It is a promise that winter will turn to spring, and that spring will make way for summer, and that then will come the harvest. The plant thrives in spite of, and because of, weather […] Read more
Farming better through yoga
Set your skepticism aside. Just check out the science and these benefits of yoga on the farm
Reading Time: 5 minutes Across the country, yoga is catching on as a way to strengthen muscles, reduce pain and increase energy. “Yoga is good for injuries, work-related soreness and tiredness,” says Kate Stevely, a certified instructor who teaches yoga in Stratford, Ont. and surrounding communities. It’s enough to make you think yoga should be universally prescribed on the […] Read more
Networking and the farm
In the first of two parts, networking expert Donna Messer explains why her work should matter to you
Reading Time: 5 minutes If you challenge yourself to describe a farmer in 10 words or less, before you’re halfway through, you’ll find yourself reaching for words like independent, autonomous and self-reliant. And no wonder. With all the risks and stresses of agriculture, farmers have earned the rights to that image of strength, resiliency and self-determination. But, as every […] Read more
Real-time financial management for farmers
Is it good, or too good to be true?
Reading Time: 5 minutes It sounds like a dream come true, placing current financial data at the fingertips of everyone involved in the farming enterprise so you can make better, more efficient on-the-spot decisions at critical crunch times. And it might not be a pipe dream any longer. “It’s just the way the world is working,” says Lance Stockbrugger, […] Read more
Farming in landlocked Africa
Zambia is an optimistic but also a heartbreaking study in what might be — but isn’t — achievable in African agriculture
Reading Time: 10 minutes The long driveway into Lilayi Farm, just south of Lusaka, Zambia, is lined with large shade trees. Cattle graze in knee-deep grass, and halfway along the lane I find the building I have been told to look for. It is the new polo clubhouse, where an international polo tournament will be hosted this weekend. Alan […] Read more
So close, so far
Farming in eastern Ontario takes a special breed
Reading Time: 6 minutes The area isn’t for everyone, Charles Forman tells me. Squeezed between three of Canada’s most densely populated urban centres — Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto — farming here is almost eerily anonymous. Even other farmers across the province or all across the country easily overlook the farming that goes on in eastern Ontario. Not that the […] Read more
Help wanted
Farmers can’t wait 10 years to build a workforce. In this first of a two-part series, we look at why the need is so urgent
Reading Time: 6 minutes The crisis is already here, and farmers are caught in the jaws of two ugly steel traps. Not only is it getting harder and harder for farmers to find the employees they need for their own farms, but the companies that farmers rely on — ranging from seed and chemical companies to equipment makers — […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
