Say what you want about the state of farm transition in Canada, but the numbers don't lie: farm business transition from one owner to the next is a huge deal both in dollar figures and families involved. According to Farm Management Canada, about 75 per cent of farm businesses are set to transition to new... Read More
Category: Farm Management
It's okay to struggle and it's okay to ask for help. Those are just two of the messages that Humboldt Broncos bus crash survivor Tyler Smith shared with an auditorium packed with Ontario Agricultural Conference attendees last week at the University of Guelph's Ridgetown campus. It was April 6, 2018 when a bus carrying the... Read More
Following a scheduled five-year review of the Certified Sustainable Beef Framework, the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) has announced a few changes and updates to the program. The Certified Sustainable Beef Framework is a voluntary, outcome-based certification program for beef sustainability in Canada. It was developed by the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef in... Read More
The union representing 384 employees at Viterra's grain elevators in Saskatchewan and another 65 staff at the company's office in Regina has suspended previously-announced strike action pending a vote on a revised offer from the company. Viterra updated its offer to members of the Grain and General Services Union (GSU) Locals 1 and 2 on... Read More
As we kick off a new year, it's crucial for farmers and agricultural professionals to take a moment to reflect, not just on the past 12 months, but on the years gone by. Preparing for this week's Ontario Agricultural Conference, where I will be giving a keynote presentation on effective farm management, has prompted me... Read More
A practical design that immediately improves efficiency on the farm is usually a top priority when building a new shop, but ideally, that building will continue providing value for the next thirty-plus years, across multiple generations. Walter Smith would still fall into the category of "young" farmer, but after ten years of running a seed... Read More
I'm not a New Year's resolution person. I'm not even a New Year's party person, but I am a fresh start, excited-about-a-fresh-notepad kind of person. With 2024 just around the corner, I've been thinking a lot about the production year ahead. For our farm, December is when we put the rams in with ewes for... Read More
Governments across the world are crafting policy to influence industry practices with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Canadian government is doing the same through programs such as the On-Farm Climate Action Fund and others. But how effective have these programs been and how do farmers see them influencing what practices they engage... Read More
Man, was I excited on Friday. There was an absolute buzz over whether the Toronto Blue Jays were going to sign Shohei Ohtani. The entire fan base was plane-tracking, crossing fingers, and hoping that Ohtani would take the organization to the promised land. The Blue Jays were in the mix as a finalist, along with... Read More
Off-farm income has been a contributor to farm households for decades, but in many ways the extent and role it plays in the farm business isn't fully understood. In the October Canadian Farmer sentiment index conducted by RealAgristudies, we asked questions related to off-farm income in order to better understand the role it plays on... Read More