Reading Time: 6 minutes The one thing we can know for sure as we enter this new decade is that it will be vital to get a good start on 2020. So maybe it’s not so bad that popular culture sees New Year’s as a time for making resolutions and pledges. The seed and the fertilizer may be ordered […] Read more
Your 2020 agricultural calendar of winter events
The first 90 days offer impressive opportunities for new insights, new technologies and new points of view
Editor’s Note: How will farms grow in the 2020s?
On the lip of the 2020s, it’s a question that deserves more than casual thought. And it needs more than one perspective, for there will be more kinds of success than ever in history
Reading Time: 2 minutes April Stewart writes in our December 2019 issue of Country Guide to tell us the proof is in. The more technological and digital a farm gets, the more important its leadership and its soft skills become. To a degree, it’s no surprise. Technology does many things, and the technology of the 2020s will do more of […] Read more
The skills you’ll need as farms become more digital
Technology is transforming agriculture at a speed we hardly grasp. Will yours be among the farms that emerge stronger?
Reading Time: 5 minutes In October, Country Guide covered the report “Farmer 4.0: How the Coming Skills Revolution Can Transform Agriculture” published by RBC, with its emphasis on how the era of super-automation will change how we farm. “As Canadian farmers leave traditional tasks to smart machines, and focus on strategy and systems, they’ll be better positioned than ever […] Read more
Farm CEO: The complete farm executive
Reading Time: 3 minutes What does the basic mindset of a farm CEO look like? I’m currently using a three-factor model to describe what I think makes a highly effective farm executive. The first is business results. Obviously at the end of the day if we don’t define success and achieve objectives that keep us in business, never mind […] Read more
Why aren’t farm women fighting harder?
It’s time to win back the ground we've have lost in the past 30 years
Reading Time: 9 minutes In the November issue of Country Guide, Saskatchewan farmer Leigh Rosengren challenged women to have an honest conversation about the career barriers individual women face living on farms in rural Canada. Further investigation reveals we need a hard look at the agriculture industry as a whole. Despite decades of work, women are still largely shut […] Read more
Throne speech kicks off Parliament with nod to agriculture
Reading Time: 2 minutes The federal throne speech opening the first session of Canada’s 43rd Parliament further committed the Liberal minority government to combating climate change, supporting natural resource sectors and removing international trade barriers. Including a pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the speech, delivered Thursday in Ottawa, showed the government again demonstrating its commitment to a […] Read more
Rural communities take the charitable lead
Once again, the generosity of farmers is proving vital in rural Canada. This time, it helps to get good financial advice
Reading Time: 8 minutes The Baron family farm is close to the Manitoba town of Carberry in more ways than one. The farm is located right on the edge of the town, halfway between Brandon and Portage la Prairie, and the Barons have called it home since their grandparents homesteaded here in the 1930s. That makes some very deep […] Read more
Farm CEO: Culture matters
Are you paying attention to the culture of your farm or farm business?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Why should we care about the culture of our business? Culture captures the essence of what makes a business tick, yet it is poorly understood. Culture has reached cliché status as a management concept, and that’s regrettable because understanding what culture really is, its connection to leadership, how it is created and how it has […] Read more
Family Through Succession: Aligning the Hunter family vision
"In the end, we all want the same thing,” Bruce says. “I just don’t see how we can make everyone happy.”
Reading Time: 7 minutes Last month, our first article introduced the Hunter family and their journey through farm succession. The Hunters aren’t a real family; you won’t find them in a phone book. But they are real in that they’re based on our real-life experience consulting with farm families. You’ll find families like the Hunters across the country. Through […] Read more
Coping with the winter months
“It’s okay not to be okay,” says therapist Deborah Vanberkel. All of us are subject to the winter blahs and cabin fever
Reading Time: 6 minutes As if farming wasn’t already stressful enough, Canadian winters bring additional challenges. Frozen water lines, icy driveways and tractors that won’t start are just a few of the many physical challenges that farmers must contend with during our harsh winters. On top of that, when the short days of winter arrive, some of us will […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
