Reading Time: 4 minutes Working with family can be difficult, but successful sibling agricultural operations seem to leverage the unique advantages of their relationships to create growth for their farms.
The Secret Sauce of Sibling Run Farms
Sibling business partnerships can offer a farm business unique advantages
Tips for how to be fair to all siblings during farm succession
This six-part series explores the challenges of sibling conflict and the effect it can have on the farm
Reading Time: 4 minutes Siblings often have differing visions for the farm’s future. This article offers tips for navigating this sticky situation.
How to talk about your farm succession plan
Estate planning is never easy — and more difficult still is the conversations you need to have with your family. But these conversations can be a great opportunity to teach the next generation about money, family relationships and how to make decisions together
Reading Time: 5 minutes You’ve worked hard your whole life and lived within your means. Now, you want your estate to help the future generation succeed — not create problems or heartache for your family. But if you want your estate to create a legacy of positivity, you’ll have to proactively communicate your wishes through an estate plan. Like […] Read more
A new spin on farm legacy
Farms are starting to think differently about the future. What does this mean for the next generation?
Reading Time: 3 minutes What does farm legacy look like for the next generation.
The farm isn’t just a great place to grow up
Summer Series: Farms of the future won’t look like they did just a few decades ago. Is the industry doing enough to sell the next generation on careers in agriculture?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Growing up I wanted to farm. I laugh now because what I defined as farming when I was young is not even identifiable in today’s operations: sleeping behind the seat of grandpa’s combine, driving the farm truck when I couldn’t reach the pedals and sitting shotgun in the grain truck with no air conditioning. This […] Read more
Can slowing down farm succession really work?
Summer Series: Designating more time to the farm transition process can mean less stress and more choices
Reading Time: 4 minutes When I ask farmers to guess how long it will take to complete a transition plan, they usually say one to two years. The reality is that it takes much longer. In a 2017 survey by Business Development Canada (BDC), five out of six entrepreneurs believed that the transition process can be completed in two […] Read more
Taming monsters: When farm succession rears its head
Summer Series: With today’s access to capital and cost of land, many farms have grown beyond the point of “built to sell.” What happens when infrastructure and land holdings are too big for an exit strategy?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Family farms were less complex when I was growing up and farming in the 1980s through the early 2000s. Decisions were made in thousands of dollars, not millions. Summers were spent at the lake, not in the cab of a sprayer. It was a great way of life, one that shaped my attitudes and behaviours. […] Read more
When farm plans fail
If you’ve been talking for years about planning something for the farm, maybe it’s time to look at why you’re stuck
Reading Time: 3 minutes “It’s been 10 years, and we still don’t have a plan.” If this sounds like something you’ve said to yourself, have you also asked, “Why don’t we?” Ten years talking about making a plan but still not having it written down, or not making any real changes in the way your farm operates, can be […] Read more
Manitoba farmers share their farm succession story
Transitioning the family farm can be riddled with challenges. The Stepplers have learned that working collaboratively offers a better chance of success for all
Reading Time: 7 minutes It’s a fact that most families squabble. Individuals don’t always see eye to eye, and they can’t always work together. But if they can find a way, it can make a world of difference to the profitability and future of their farm — and the success of their relationships with each other. The Stepplers managed […] Read more
Attracting the right kind of capital in agriculture
Capital is required to grow the farm business but sometimes it takes an innovative approach
Reading Time: 2 minutes Agriculture’s future will rely on attracting capital. In the past, capital typically came from banks or family. But the changing demographic of farmers and farmland owners means that many farms and a tremendous amount of farmland will change hands over the coming decade. To add to the list of challenges, inflation and farmland appreciation has […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
