Reading Time: < 1 minute A program offering term loans to small- and medium-sized businesses in rural Alberta is off the provincial ag lending agency’s menu. Alberta’s Agriculture Financial Services Corp. (AFSC) announced Thursday it had discontinued its Rural Business Loan Program effective immediately, so as to “concentrate its efforts on agricultural producers and agribusinesses.” The decision means no new […] Read more
Alberta ag lender drops rural business loans
AFSC not taking new applications for program
Above board
Pay yourself, and put the numbers in your budgets right from the start. It’s better for you, and for the business too
Reading Time: 5 minutes The thing is, you’re going to eat anyway, and probably wear clothes too. When a farmer doesn’t build a salary into their business model, they’ll still spend money on their personal needs and desires. The money just gets sucked out some other way. Of course a salary can take some getting used to, says Julia […] Read more
Editor’s Note: The right year to celebrate
Reading Time: 2 minutes As we get into spring, find some time for thinking and brainstorming how you can make 2021 a milestone year that your farm will long remember. It’s the right advice. Not every ag sector is having a banner year. And even within the grain and oilseed sector, not every farm is feeling on top of […] Read more
Hanson Acres: The votes are in, so tell us who won!
It’s election day, and on the Hanson farm, the tension is mounting and mounting
Reading Time: 4 minutes Elaine Hanson’s laptop was propped up at the end of the kitchen table, and Elaine, her husband Jeff, and Jeff’s parents Dale and Donna sat clustered in their chairs at the other end, drinking coffee and watching the screen. Elaine bit her lip, one eye on the screen and the other on her phone, where […] Read more
Breaking the silence of racism
When we give sexist and racist comments and stereotypes a free pass on our farms and in our daily lives, we’re guilty of perpetuating them
Reading Time: 6 minutes Too often we let racist, sexist or homophobic comments slide because it’s awkward or uncomfortable to call them out. But as human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Here’s how Bronwynne Wilton, a Fergus, Ont. […] Read more
Getting to the dream
A real-life story of making a non-family farm transition work, including all the time, the effort, the talking and the satisfaction
Reading Time: 9 minutes About 15 years ago, Bob and Sharon McCoubrey were facing a dilemma. Bob’s body was telling him it was time to give up his orchard and vegetable farm in British Columbia’s Okanagan. It was time for the next phase of their lives, but past experience had left a bitter taste in their mouths. “We were […] Read more
Can less be more when tackling herbicide resistance?
A coming formulation of glufosinate seeks to cut rates yet maintain efficacy
Reading Time: 4 minutes In the past five years, growers across Canada have been hearing more and more about a new weed control mantra. It’s called “doing only what’s necessary.” Weeds continue to challenge and frustrate in the field, of course, and there are always new issues like resistance in species such as Canada fleabane in the East or […] Read more
The Farmer’s Office: Tools, Tips and Templates to Successfully Manage a Growing Farm Business
Guide Books Review: In an agriculture where the new mantra is “work smarter, not harder,” Shanks offers an approach that, with discipline, can make success more achievable
Reading Time: 3 minutes The Farmer’s Office: Tools, Tips and Templates to Successfully Manage a Growing Farm Business By Julia Shanks New Society Publishers / 288 pages / $24.95 Launching, growing, pivoting and stabilizing your farm business all share one essential ingredient: a solid financial road map. Understanding what makes you money (and conversely, what does not) helps you […] Read more
Guide Health: Coping with dry skin
Good skin care habits and a moisturizer will help, but keep these tips in mind
Reading Time: 3 minutes Dry skin, or xeroderma as it is medically known, is estimated to affect 70 per cent of Canadians in the winter months. Probably, the real number is even higher, especially when winters are as cold and dry as this winter has been in so much of Canada. Xeroderma is rough scaly skin that is flaky […] Read more
Ag ministers withdraw AgriStability reference margin limit
Program's compensation rate unchanged but 'remains on table'
Reading Time: 4 minutes In a move expected to provide $95 million in additional farm support per year, Canada’s ag ministers have agreed to remove the reference margin limit from the AgriStability farm income stabilization program. “That’s it! The ‘reference margin limit’ of the #AgriStability program is over! And it will be retroactive to 2020!” federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
