Reading Time: 9 minutes Travel is the best teacher. Anyone who has gotten off the main tourist routes will agree that time spent in someone else’s country is the finest form of education. In bizspeak, though, there’s a question: Can you bottle it? Does it have to be an intensely personal thing, or can you capture the benefits of […] Read more
A world of ideas
Canadian Nuffield scholars are seizing the chance to think differently
China reclassifies dogs as pets, not livestock
New guidelines drafted in post-virus regulatory push
Reading Time: 2 minutes Shanghai | Reuters — China has drawn up new guidelines to reclassify dogs as pets rather than livestock, the agriculture ministry said, part of a response to the coronavirus outbreak that the Humane Society called a potential “game changer” in animal welfare. Though dog meat remains a delicacy in many regions, the ministry of agriculture […] Read more
Tips for better emailing
These apps can make your business and family communications more efficient, but you still need to write clearly
Reading Time: 5 minutes The irony is that even though we have more ways to communicate than ever before, somehow we seem to be always be getting worse at the job. We are inundated with emails and distracted by text messages, and it feels like we’re always trying to puzzle out what some sender meant to say, or whether […] Read more
Brother-sister team credit teamwork on their Sask. farm
As long as Mom and Dad are actively farming, it can be simple. But what about later? Here’s how Saskatchewan’s Jarid and Jody Berglund are working toward their shared vision
Reading Time: 8 minutes During their pre-school years, if they weren’t trying to help with chores, Jody Berglund and her brother Jarid were busy playing farm together. “I don’t ever recall playing with Barbie dolls as a little girl,” says Jody. “Jarid and I would constantly play farm; we had a wooden barn, we built corrals out of Jenga […] Read more
Do siblings fight? Is grass green?
But if the problem runs deeper than occasional disagreements over what crop to plant or what size tractor to buy, the resolution has to involve listening to each other, especially when you really don’t want to
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s common for siblings to not get along. Research shows that in about half of families, a brother or sister does not get along with one or more of his or her siblings. On the farm, if they do decide to work together — and many don’t — it can, at best, be an uncomfortable […] Read more
Opinion: The changing conversation around food
Stating that food security is critical during the COVID-19 crisis means farm issues won't be sidelined
Reading Time: 3 minutes On one hand, the federal government stated the obvious when it identified the food system as one of the 10 critical infrastructures supporting Canadians during the pandemic crisis. After all, who can survive without food? Nevertheless, the guidance document issued by Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair this week sent an important signal, […] Read more
Kraft Heinz cuts output at three plants, adds mac and cheese shifts
Reading Time: < 1 minute Sao Paulo | Reuters — Kraft Heinz said Friday it has moved to significantly reduce production at three plants providing restaurant supplies amid the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, but its CEO noted the company has added shifts at others to meet demand for packaged foods such as macaroni and cheese. Speaking in a video presentation hosted […] Read more
How much bigger are farms getting?
Farm size is increasing in Canada, but the rate of expansion is slowing, and new ownership models are emerging
Reading Time: 6 minutes Tom Eisenhauer, CEO and president of Toronto-based national farm financing firm Bonnefield Financial, gets right to his point. “To maximize their profits,” he says, “farmers need to maximize the utilization of their equipment, their inputs and their labour. “This usually means expansion.” J.P. Gervais, chief agricultural economist at Farm Credit Canada, also believes that larger […] Read more
Hanson Acres: Why worry? We’ve made this trip so many times
Forget all that technology. The pioneers criss-crossed the continent by horse
Reading Time: 4 minutes “How much farther?” Dale Hanson asked his wife. Donna peered at the Garmin and groaned. “The screen still says we’ll be there in four minutes.” Dale snorted and kept his eyes on the road. What he could see of it anyway. The Hansons had left Arizona in Donna’s car two days ago. After one night […] Read more
Michele Manelli — game changer in the world of wine
Here’s what happens when a young Italian abandons a flourishing financial career to “go farming”
Reading Time: 7 minutes I first met Michele Manelli two decades ago at Salcheto, the five-hectare vineyard he had recently bought. Nestled into a Tuscan hillside, at the end of a dirt road, it was billed as one of the finest parcels of land in the Montepulciano area, 250 kilometres northeast of Rome’s airport. The Salcheto story and his […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
