While the agricultural industry often equates growth with success, the financial challenges surrounding Monette Farms serve as a sobering reminder that scale is not a safeguard against volatility. As the initial excitement over the creditor protection news settles, the focus has shifted toward the structural lessons of rapid expansion, over-leveraging, and the management of extreme... Read More
Category: Farm Management
00:00 - Coming up 1:29 - Meet Dean Orr, farmer and land use researcher 3:22 - What Ontario is proposing for limiting foreign land ownership 6:57 - Land use vs land ownership 9:19 - The potential of the Clay Belt 13:01 - The value of land for retiring farmers 17:08 - The Alto rail line... Read More
The Saskatchewan Prairie Conservation Action Plan (SK PCAP) has published a 2nd Edition of the Saskatchewan Rangeland Health Assessment for Native Grasslands. This updated assessment tool was a collaborative grassroots effort among several prairie stakeholders and builds on the initial 2008 edition, the group says. A range health assessment is a point-in-time evaluation of a... Read More
When news breaks of a large or very large farm entering creditor protection, it's human nature for many to tsk-tsk and say I told you so. Whatever your thoughts on the most recent mega-farm facing financial trouble, the fallout for communities where mega-farms operate can be wide-spread, from landowners losing out on rent payments, to... Read More
The risks facing Canadian producers have been changing and are getting worse. The January 2026 Canadian Farmer Sentiment Index highlighted that 75% of respondents expect more risk in 2026, continuing a trend in which farmers see more risk on the horizon. And over 75% of Canada’s farmers report overwhelming stress and anxiety caused by the... Read More
Saskatchewan has some of the toughest rules on the books about who can and can't own farmland in the province. Even so, concerns around who owns Saskatchewan farmland and how land purchases are financed continue to surface across the province, prompting a closer look from industry and government alike. Bill Prybylski, president of the Agricultural... Read More
The Government of Ontario has introduced legislation to support the expansion of agricultural production in the Clay Belt region of northern Ontario and implement measures to streamline red tape in the agri-food industry. Within the overarching changes is a plan to introduce a Farmland Security Act to restrict foreign acquisition of provincial farmland. If passed,... Read More
Stepping outside your comfort zone isn’t easy, but avoiding it can make challenges feel far bigger than they really are. Leaning into discomfort, rather than pushing it aside, can be the difference between staying stuck and moving forward. At the Advancing Women’s Conference in Calgary, Alta., Kimberly Lyall of Solutionary Leadership encouraged farmers and industry... Read More
Farm succession planning remains one of the most complex and often delayed conversations in agriculture, bringing together business, family, and financial considerations that can be difficult to navigate without the right support. Speaking at the Advancing Women’s Conference in Calgary, Alta., Sandra Macenko Merkley, senior wealth advisor with ScotiaMcLeod, encouraged farm families to take a... Read More
Communication, not capital, may be the most overlooked risk in farm succession—and Ron Krahn says it’s where many operations fall short. In this episode of the How Could I Know? podcast, hosted by Patti Durand and Chris Corbett of Brightrack Consulting, Ron Krahn, who farms with his family near Rivers, Manitoba, reflects on the lessons... Read More