Elanco Animal Health CEO Jeff Simmons speaks during an interview at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Sept. 20, 2018. (Photo: Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

Second activist investor buys into Elanco

Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Hedge fund Starboard Value LP has taken a stake in Elanco Animal Health and nominated three directors to the animal healthcare company’s board, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The WSJ report did not mention the size of Starboard’s stake in Elanco, which makes treatments for pets […] Read more

Defibrillator for your brain

Defibrillator for your brain

Guide Books Review: Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen by Dan Heath

Reading Time: 3 minutes Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen Dan Heath Simon & Schuster / 320 pages / $30 Most of us feel that the way we make decisions is the only natural way to do it. There isn’t a better way. If there was a better way, we’d already be doing it. Or would […] Read more


Hot flashes occur in approximately 75 to 80 per cent of women.

Guide Health: Menopause and hot flashes

Keeping fit and watching your weight can curb menopause symptoms, but three-quarters of women will still get hot flashes

Reading Time: 2 minutes While menopause affects all women, its symptoms and timing vary greatly. With age there is a cessation of ovarian function, but it is not a sudden stop. Rather it is a waning over an average of two to 10 years. Menopause occurs anywhere from age 40 to 60 with the average age of 51. (Obviously […] Read more

Tom Button

Editor’s Note: How good is the advice I’m getting?

Reading Time: 2 minutes It’s a question we didn’t ask farm accountants when we asked them what traits separate their average from their above-average farm clients. The days of bookkeepers and cash accounting aren’t over, of course. Every farm has different needs. But accountants and accrual-based accounting are the new norm, and the transition has helped enable the professionalization […] Read more


How to know if your farm business skills are keeping up

How to know if your farm business skills are keeping up

In the last five years, every farm has upped its business management. So is your farm middle-of-the-pack? Above average? Below? Get ready for some surprises

Reading Time: 8 minutes When you ask Shawn Hass, vice-president and portfolio manager at RBC Dominion Securities in Lethbridge, Alta., what his cutting-edge farm clients are doing that sets them apart from the rest of the pack, his first answer will likely surprise you. “They’ve built an office or have one on site,” Hass says. “The most successful farm […] Read more

File photo of a rye field in Kazakhstan. (Stsmhn/iStock/Getty Images)

Kazakhstan’s president orders ban on foreign ownership of farmland

Reading Time: < 1 minute Almaty | Reuters — Kazakhstan will permanently ban foreigners from owning or renting farmland in the vast central Asian nation, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Thursday, ending a lengthy dispute that once prompted anti-government protests. Kazakhstan is a major producer of grains, oilseeds and meat in the former Soviet region sandwiched between China and Russia […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canary Seed Development Commission of Saskatchewan)

Canary seed competing with other crops on the rise

'There's a fight for acreage'

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — During the fall of 2020, canary seed crossed above the 30 cents per pound mark — where it’s currently staying. And those who work with the crop expect its price to remain above that mark this year. David Nobbs, pulse merchant for Purely Canada Foods at Saskatoon and former chair of the Canary […] Read more

File photo of the Prince Rupert Grain Terminal. (Dan_prat/iStock/Getty Images)

Grain shortage, cold snap cause delays at West Coast ports

'...the vessels continue to arrive'

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Grain movement in Western Canada remains faced with significant difficulties, according to Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corp., which monitors rail traffic and vessel movements in Canada. February’s cold snap resulted in grain movement across the region falling below its three-year average. The most pressing issue has been a shortage of grain to […] Read more


Jen and Brooks White have always focused on improving their management decision-making.

Value in your farming peers

Could a peer group be right for you? Country Guide talks to one Ontario group to find out

Reading Time: 6 minutes When Ontario’s Janet O’Rourke and her husband Kevin took CTEAM — the executive management program designed specifically for Canadian farmers and ranchers — they got their first taste of peer feedback and the benefits it can bring. As part of the program, their class of farmers met four times over two years and got to […] Read more

For Saik, another key learning is ensuring age and gender diversity not only makes the benefits more broadly available, but improves the experience for everyone.

Making it their business

A growing number of Western Canada’s farmers are using peer groups to drive their performance. This one is ready made

Reading Time: 6 minutes It turns out that size can matter. It makes a difference. Farming at different scales doesn’t necessarily make anyone a better or a worse farmer, but it does change the kinds of problems you have to tackle every day, the kinds of decisions you have to make and, of course, the kinds of questions that […] Read more