Reading Time: 3 minutes It is 6:30. You get up and plan to have a productive day. You look at your email inbox. You were supposed to look for just 10 minutes, and then you realize that it is 7:30. The children leave for school, you are in a hurry, and you completely forget your priorities for the day. […] Read more
Guide HR: A simple way to get more done
Railway funds to deliver safety, leadership programs
Reading Time: 2 minutes 4-H Canada is set to launch a new youth leadership program, along with a farm safety fund, thanks to a $600,000 contribution from Canadian National Railway (CN). Executives at 4-H and CN unveiled the 4-H Canada Leadership Excellence Awards of Distinction (LEAD) at Canadian Western Agribition on Wednesday morning. Each year LEAD will award four […] Read more
Guide HR: ‘Is he suffering from the god complex?’
A narcissistic personality can come in any shape or size and can put your business at risk
Reading Time: 3 minutes He is always right,” says Matthew, age 25. “We always have to do things his way. Not even my mother can voice any kind of opinion. I’ve had enough.” When I met Matthew’s father, his initial comment was, “You will see right away that my son and my wife have problems.” At that point, I […] Read more
Reap the value of personality testing
AME Management: Understanding who you and your people are can help your business reach its goals
Reading Time: 3 minutes Understanding ourselves and others is one of the increasingly important skills needed to be effective in agri-business organizations. In order to harness the full potential of their organizations and to hit the financial, strategic and operational goals of their businesses, the best managers report that they need to know how to get the best from […] Read more
It’s not ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to team building on the farm
It might seem something only office workers should waste their time on, but team building fits farming too
Reading Time: 4 minutes The options are endless. Companies send their employees out rock climbing. They hire fancy consultants to host trust-building days. They send their executive boards fly fishing, or arrange a day of more traditional community service work where everyone can work side by side and roles are often reversed. Less adventurous businesses can even do the […] Read more
Happiness is good for your business
What are the factors that contribute to being happy, and how can you increase workplace happiness?
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you are thinking, “Happiness and business — that sounds crazy,” you should read this article. Decades ago, happiness seemed quite irrelevant for leaders, entrepreneurs and CEOs. However, in the last 10 years, researchers in positive psychology have determined why industry should care. Happiness leads to success in nearly every life domain, including work performance, […] 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
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
Focus on where you can lead
At RFW Farms, the goal is to inject certainty into what can seem a very uncertain business. How they do that is a story in itself
Reading Time: 7 minutes In 1995 James Reesor and a business partner bought a 300-sow farrowing herd. Today, two decades later, RFW Farms is a 4,000-sow farrow-to-finish multi-site operation, producing about 2,000 hogs a week. By all measures, those 20 years have been challenging times in the hog business, yet this company has emerged as one of the largest […] 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
Co-op succession?
The lack of succession planning helps explain why so many co-ops are being sold, and why even more are in danger
Reading Time: 6 minutes The only thing farmers seem to do better than growing vast amounts of grain seems to be selling off ownership of the industry, especially in the West. In February of this year, Parrish and Heimbecker purchased the 112,000-tonne farmer-owned Weyburn Inland Terminal. Just a month earlier, Viterra bought the 42,000-tonne Lethbridge Inland Terminal that had […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
