Reading Time: 5 minutes All of the clichés about sharing workloads — “Many hands make for light work” or “Two heads are better than one,” fall by the wayside when chatting with Ian and Scott Matheson. Since they took over farming from their father, they’ve increased their respective duties on the family operation near Lakeside in the northwest corner […] Read more
Keeping the ‘busy’ in ‘business’
The Mathesons continue to diversify on a farm modelled for success
Keeping workers on the farm
Scientific HR really can help ensure your farm business has the people and skills it needs
Reading Time: 8 minutes There are multiple moving parts to any busy farm, and there have to be just as many to a sound HR plan too. You can pretty quickly run out of fingers if you try to count them. There’s recruitment, retention, training, evaluation … the list goes on and on. But that doesn’t mean HR has […] Read more
Click your way to success
This free online course promises it will open new business options for you and your farm
Reading Time: 3 minutes A new, online farm management program has come to Canada with a mission to help more Canadian farmers get equipped with the knowledge and confidence to take their businesses to the next level. The University of Guelph has collaborated with RBC Royal Bank and Farm Credit Canada to launch theFoundations in Agricultural Management certificate program, […] Read more
‘Field of Dreams’ diversification
Got a diversification project in mind? Get ready for some serious negotiating — not with the bank but with the planning staff in local government
Reading Time: 7 minutes When they decided to start their own distillery in their hometown of Ayr, Ont., Cameron Formica and the brothers Jordan and Nolan van der Heyden decided to test the truth of the movie line “if you build it, they will come.” “Farming on farmland is good in theory,” Formica recalls thinking. He knows the “in […] Read more
Better neighbours
In an era of bigger, busier operations, are farmers still paragons of neighbourliness?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Neighbourliness is stitched into the fabric of rural Canada. It always has been. In fact, as Dr. Catharine Wilson, professor of history at the University of Guelph might put it, “reciprocal labour” is what paved the way for our farming success. “I don’t think we can overstate how important neighbours were,” says Wilson. It isn’t […] Read more
Do it. Read a book!
Guide Books Review: There are all sorts of reasons for not having time to read, but reading will improve your farm business, and your life too
Reading Time: 4 minutes For over two years, I’ve had the pleasure of reading and reviewing fascinating books for Country Guide. It’s been amazing, but it raises the question. Does it make sense for you to actually read a book, or would you and your farm be so much better off if you did real work instead? In other […] Read more
Hanson Acres: New friends, great food, and then a long road home
No matter your age, sometimes there’s a twist at every turn
Reading Time: 5 minutes “Good game!” Dale said as he and Donna and their new friends Phil and Marlene took seats around the plastic table next to the pickleball court. Dale and Donna’s first three weeks in Yuma had been a bust. Trouble with the furnace back home. Good friends not returning for the winter. They found out their […] Read more
Building a knowledge base for your farm team
For today’s farmers, the top question to ask your farm business advisor may be, “Who else are we bringing in on my job?”
Reading Time: 6 minutes Independence has always had its limits. Farmers have always enlisted off-farm experts to help solve tough production issues, and they’ve always kept their ears open when they’ve met with their bookkeepers or bank managers. But times have sped up. Today’s farms, whether small, medium or large, are complex operations that require a team to help […] Read more
Making Numbers Count
Guide Books Review: The art and science of communicating numbers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Making Numbers CountBy Chip Heath and Karla Starr (Simon & Schuster) Okay, let’s have a show of hands. How many of us have ever said we’re just not “numbers” people? I have, many times. I do get their inherent value, but I have to admit sometimes I have struggled to see the totality of what […] Read more
Tap into these labour markets
Labour is harder to find than ever, and the future isn’t looking any better
Reading Time: 5 minutes “It’s grim,” admits Nita Chhinzer, professor of human resources in the department of management at the University of Guelph. It’s a function of demographics, she says. Our population is aging, the pool of young replacements is thin, and our immigration policies are tilted in favour of those at the mid-to upper stages of their careers. […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
