Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has announced a change to the Advance Payments Program (APP) that aims to help producers finance record high input costs heading into the 2022 planting season. The federal government is temporarily waiving the requirement that cash advances issued prior to seeding be disbursed in two instalments — 60 per cent... Read More
Category: Finance
A large part of farm succession planning is information sharing between the generations, something Canadian Western Agribition's (CWA) Next Gen Agriculture Mentorship Program is looking to replicate. The program is now in it's fourth year and has recently announced this year's group of mentors and mentees for Saskatchewan. The 18-month mentorship focuses on developing numerous... Read More
For every dollar in income taken home by Canadian farm families in 2019, over 64 cents was earned "off the farm," according to a new report from Statistics Canada. StatsCan published its farm family income data for 2019 — pre-pandemic economy, of course — on January 28. Based on tax records, the agency says the... Read More
CN Rail is currently looking for a new CEO. Normally, an executive search wouldn't draw that much attention; however, when the position is potentially filled by someone from a shareholding hedge fund, it could impact the direction and mission of the company. That's according to the federal Conservatives, and Andrew Scheer, shadow minister for infrastructure... Read More
I've been having this conversation a lot lately, as I'm sure many of you have been too — I'm not sure how we're at the end of December already. Although the last couple of weeks have shown some true winter temperatures, it has been abnormally warm (and dry) in my area, which I'm convinced has... Read More
Year-end financial statements aren't just for year-end reviews — especially if they happen months after the year-end. Realistically, if you're not reviewing the books until months later, the decisions being made in the present aren't fully informed by the reality of the business situation, says Lisa Miller, partner with MNP Agriculture, based at Edmonton, Alta.... Read More
One challenge that many farmers face is how to pass the reins of an operation to a successor and how to get out of the way, but not go away. Dick Wittman learned plenty of valuable lessons managing a family-operated 20,000 acre crop, cattle, and timber operation in northern Idaho. He now heads Wittman Consulting,... Read More
Turn on Bloomberg, CNBC, or Fox News and just about every mainstream news outlet is talking about inflation. But how worried should farmers or ranchers be about inflation? In some ways, farmers or ranchers may be set up to benefit from inflation, says Shawn Hass of RBC Dominion Securities, in this interview with Shaun Haney... Read More
Change is everywhere in farming and often everything seems to be in flux, whether it's markets, trade relationships, weather, or family relationships. Depending on the circumstances, farmers react differently to change says Heather Watson, executive director at Farm Management Canada (FMC). "Some people see that as unwelcome and unnerving; others see it as an opportunity... Read More
Understanding how multi-generation farms approach big-picture topics can help farm management teams (i.e. family members) better navigate difficult conversations on the future of the farm. In this second part of a discussion with Justin Funk, managing partner of AgriStudies, podcast host Shaun Haney explores how differences in how generations set goals, measure progress, use technology,... Read More