Reading Time: 8 minutes Like many others, Larry Martin is convinced that Canada’s agriculture is evolving far faster than anyone driving a few miles of country sideroad could guess. The scenery hasn’t changed. At least, it hasn’t been transformed. It’s still a patchwork of crisp farmsteads and open fields, and of barns and bins. But those who live here […] Read more
Farm fit
Maybe the phrase “Standardized Financial Benchmarks for Canadian Farm Financial Statements” doesn’t instantly get your blood pumping. But read on. Could this be the tool that lets you control your future?
Borrowing our way to prosperity
Is it healthy for Canada’s farmers to have more debt than 130 of the world’s national governments?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Farmers and the ag industry love to set records. They drool over variety yields, bushels per acre, acres per hour, rates of gain, and any other metric that might portray them as more productive, efficient or simply better than their competitors. Yet barely a word was mentioned last spring when Statistics Canada revealed Canadian farm […] Read more
Five common misperceptions about investing in the stock market, debunked
Occasionally I get an opportunity to make a presentation promoting my book. The theme of my 30- to 45-minute presentation is that most stock investing perceptions are actually misperceptions. Following are five common perceptions, which I feel are actually misperceptions.
Is it time to rethink your farm debt?
Debt has soared with farm income. For most farms, that’s good. But what about yours?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Over the past decade, the consensus among Canada’s ag economists has been clear. Yes, farmers have accumulated more debt than ever. But the debt load is manageable. There’s no looming crisis. Now, however, with the prospect of a series of modest interest rate hikes, can we still be so complacent? First, let’s look at the[...]
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Taking on the market
Options, futures or forward contracts? Two farmers search for sustainable income
Reading Time: 9 minutes Options, futures or forward contracts? Two farmers search for sustainable income Dennis Pashovitz calls it his ’67 Cougar moment. It was the late 1990s and the grain farmer at Arelee, an hour west of Saskatoon, needed cash to open a trading account. The only way to learn about marketing, he was convinced, was to play[...]
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Between spouses
Formalizing the informal partnership
Reading Time: 3 minutes Joint ownership between spouses has been a long-standing fixture in the farming community, with each holding equal influence when it comes to making key business decisions. It is widely acknowledged and recognized that spouses are key influencers in business decisions. They have always stood front and centre in financial negotiations, are equal participants in professional[...]
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Seven summer financial bottlenecks
In biz-speak, a bottleneck is a point of congestion that causes delays or inefficiencies, leading to higher costs. It’s a perfect metaphor for farm finances at a time of year when the bottle we’d rather be thinking about might have something cold in it, with us sitting on a dock. Yet summer is a too-good-to-miss[...]
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Advisor vs. adviser
Are you sure you should trust the person who is advising you on your financial future?
Reading Time: 7 minutes Life, business and farming are all becoming increasingly complicated. As a result, individuals in every walk of life, including farmers, are turning to advisers for help. The public has an expectation that these advisers are highly trained, that they are experts in their field, and that they will work in the best interests of the[...]
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It’s called FarmWorks
This innovative investment fund is creating a new model for getting financial help into the hands of farmers who can make a difference
Reading Time: 6 minutes One of the highest tides in the world enters Jennifer and Kevin Graham’s front yard twice a day. Their 30-acre farm near the seaside village of Kingsport, N.S., runs down to the Minas Basin, an inlet of the Bay of Fundy. This area, like the entire stretch of the Annapolis Valley, is peppered with farms[...]
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Managing your foreign exchange risks
Are you ready to deal with volatile currency values and their potential impact on your net income?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Canada is now the fifth-largest exporter of agricultural and agri-food products in the world. As an export-focused industry, Canadian farmers are regularly exposed to the often-volatile currency exchange market. And while exchange rates have always moved, the fact that we are now so closely linked to a global economy has heightened our exposure to the[...]
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A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
