psychology Archives | Country Guide

How to help a grieving friend

No, you can’t take a friend’s grief away. But you can help

By Helen Lammers-Helps December 19, 2019

Reading Time: 5 minutes When a friend has suffered the death of a loved one, we want to help but often we are unsure what to say or do. Even worse, we worry that what we think we should do could be exactly the opposite of what we actually should say, and could cause damage to our friend or […] Read more

Each interaction you have can either advance or destroy your narrative, especially when it comes to social media.

Guide Business, Marketing

Use science to be a better agvocate

To capture someone’s interest you need to find a way to connect on an emotional level

By April Stewart March 6, 2019

Reading Time: 3 minutes As a farmer, you use science every day. On a day like today you might even use it to calculate how much snow load your barn can withstand, or to improve the success of your agvocacy efforts. Research shows that to build successful farmer-consumer relationships, we need to connect with people emotionally by telling our […] Read more

Once you realize you’re procrastinating, the solution is to ask yourself what the next step would be and act on it.

Features, Guide Life

Promises to yourself

When the pressure is on, farmers get amazing things done. Now, a new technique called WOOP can help you score when the pressure is off as well

By Helen Lammers-Helps January 22, 2019

Reading Time: 5 minutes Farmers are good at getting things done under pressure. When the crop needs to get in the ground or the hay has to be baled before the rain, farmers follow through. But when there’s no deadline, farmers can fall prey to procrastination just like everybody else, says Carleton University professor Dr. Tim Pychyl, who also […] Read more

“If you don’t even bother to weigh the pros and cons, you have a big ego,” Davies says. When you hear new ideas, “you should always be picking their brains.”

Guide Business, Management

Me, myself and I

Yes, it takes self-confidence to run a farm. But every farmer also knows a neighbour whose ego is always getting in the way. Could it be you?

By Marianne Stamm August 29, 2018

Reading Time: 6 minutes The business of farming is a constant battle with weather, prices, weeds, diseases and much more. It means identifying the risks, learning how to measure them, learning about all the tools to counteract them… and maybe it should also involve buying a mirror. Ego by itself is neither good nor bad. It’s simply a Latin […] Read more

Tom Button is editor of Country Guide magazine.

Opinion

Editor’s Note: Six ingredients of an ideal farm successor

By Tom Button May 28, 2018

Reading Time: 2 minutes Several articles in our May/June issue of Country Guide examine what may be the toughest question of all. Does your farm’s next generation have what it’s going to take to succeed in 2050? Fortunately, science can help. I’ve suggested before in this space that as farms continue their likely evolution in asset value and in […] Read more

One of the biggest mistakes people make is waiting too long to tell a child a loved one is dying.

Guide Life

The grieving child

Even in the strongest farm families, we often try to shelter our children rather than help them address the loss of a parent, grandparent or family friend

By Helen Lammers-Helps March 9, 2018

Reading Time: 5 minutes When a child is facing the death of a loved one, our first instinct is often to try to shelter them. Unfortunately, following that instinct may do more harm than good. One of the biggest mistakes people make is waiting too long to tell a child a loved one is dying, says Andrea Warnick, a […] Read more

For Adrian and Jodi Roelands, the business challenge was clear. How could they grow their operation sustainably and profitably based on a reputation for top-quality product? In that search, employee feedback is now a key strategy.

Fruit/Vegetables, Guide Business, Management

Farm feedback

On this savvy farm, feedback is mined for real value, producing a happier, more efficient workforce

By Maggie Van Camp January 8, 2018

Reading Time: 9 minutes On the farm, we’ve heard the jokes about feedback being a load of barley that gets rejected at the elevator, or maybe it’s how a cow chews her cud. In bizspeak, though, feedback gets taken a lot more seriously than that. As a human resources strategy, feedback is gaining global attention because of the power […] Read more

Guide HR, Guide Life

Guide HR: Vacations: Why do you need them?

By Pierrette Desrosiers March 29, 2017

Reading Time: 3 minutes Levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout have never been so high across all industries, but we see it particularly in the farming business. Even though technology purports to simplify our lives, we’re experiencing more and more over-investment in work. Many farmers tell me they’re exhausted, with no time to catch up. Moreover, everyone wants it […] Read more

Guide HR, Guide Life

Guide HR: Can you develop a thriver’s mindset?

These seven steps will help you thrive, not just survive

By Pierrette Desrosiers February 28, 2017

Reading Time: 3 minutes We face challenges and disappointments. What is it that determines whether you will overcome these and thrive, or merely survive? Some people have developed a thriver’s mindset. They are masters of challenge and change. They grow during difficulties by leaning into stress, and by relying on special resources. There is good news, however. Science is […] Read more

Opinion

Editor’s Desk: Stacking the odds

By Tom Button January 11, 2016

Reading Time: 2 minutes Increasingly, the science that has the greatest potential to make a difference in agriculture is psychology. In recent years, we have come to appreciate the role of psychology in commodity markets, and in land markets too. We also think we have learned a lot about the psychology of succession planning, and even the psychology of […] Read more

U.S. grains: Soybeans bounce, corn stabilizes

U.S. livestock: CME cattle extend losses

Protestors put up new rail, road barricades in wake of arrests

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