Reading Time: 4 minutes Change can be daunting in any field. When it’s imposed, especially by government regulation, it can get off to an even rockier start, such as with the subject of this article — electronic logging devices (ELDs) and Transport Canada’s implementation of the technology. Initially, many truckers and fleet operators who have installed the systems were […] Read more
Digging into the details of electronic logging devices
ELDs are improving safety and logistics, and pointing the way forward for farm transport
Turning the dream into reality
Danielle French’s customers promote South Pond Farms, making this a social media success and a profitable farm venue
Reading Time: 7 minutes “One thing led to another,” Danielle French tells me. You wouldn’t guess it from meeting her. French has transformed a rundown 60-acre property into a highly acclaimed events venue hosting weddings, workshops and farm-to-table dinners. She’s super-organized, super-efficient and bursting with great ideas, and it seems impossible that anyone could have achieved all that without […] Read more
Hanson Acres: A long way from home, but hardly on her own
It’s a good thing you can never really leave the farm behind. Just ask Trina
Reading Time: 4 minutes “Guess what! Guess what!” Trina Hanson shouted to her husband Tom as she rushed into their house in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, after another long workday. “You won the lottery?” Tom guessed. “You know I don’t buy lottery tickets! Really, guess!” Trina shrugged off her backpack and pulled her sweater over her head. […] Read more
Country Guide: Response to COVID-19
Reading Time: < 1 minute For Country Guide’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, please click here (PDF).
Thinking about risk?
Next Steps: As Seth Godin says, it’s easier to paddle a canoe on a calm lake. Here’s a practical strategy for smoothing out the waves
Reading Time: 7 minutes Agriculture is not for the faint of business heart. If ever there was a job that should come with the warning “avoid if allergic to risk” in bright red letters, it’s farming with its cantankerous and cumbersome risk factors like weather, trade agreements and regulations. Risk has been part of human lives since we crawled […] Read more
Watch what you say
Before you hit send, have you considered the legal consequences?
Reading Time: 7 minutes In March of 2018, Randy Winchester and his daughter Emily, producers of Highland cattle at Wellsville, Kansas, attended the annual meeting of the Heartland Highland Cattle Association (HHCA) in Branson, Missouri. Attendees at the meeting were able to visit Bigfoot on the Strip, a nearby theme park, and take the “Bigfoot Safari Tour.” Following their […] Read more
Supportive communities. The key to resilience
There are recurring themes to resilience. We have 12 of them
Reading Time: 5 minutes Society likes to idealize the rugged individual who, against all odds, manages to overcome their difficult life circumstances and succeed in a big way. There is a problem with this narrative, though, says Dr. Michael Ungar, a family therapist and researcher at Dalhousie University. Personal resilience actually has a lot more to do with the […] Read more
Guide Health: Vaping. Please take care
Lung damage is starting to be noticed with the increased use of e-cigarettes
Reading Time: 2 minutes E-cigarettes and vaping have been in the news recently with concerns about their safety and health risks. While nicotine is often an ingredient in these products, there may be other substances too. Electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes were designed to be an alternative to smoking and are actually promoted as a way to quit smoking. It […] Read more
Gauging employee productivity
Sure, your employees seem busy enough. But are they productive? Better yet, can you improve their productivity?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Of course farmers have an excellent grasp of their input costs. As in any business, the lower the costs, the better the bottom line, so farmers are constantly experimenting with different fertilizer rates, seeding rates, equipment strategies and so much more. And for everything they do, farmers track what it costs, what it produces and […] Read more
Zimbabwe offers land as compensation for 800 seized farms
Reading Time: 2 minutes Harare | Reuters — Zimbabwe’s government will offer land as compensation for nearly 800 farms it seized under its land acquisition policy since 2000, according to regulations published on Thursday. Under former President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe took over some 5,000 farms, mostly from white farmers, saying the policy was meant to address colonial imbalances. But […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
