In 1992, the Canadian Psychiatric Association established Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) to highlight the impact of mental illness to the Canadian public, and promote recovery. The Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH) now coordinates the week in collaboration with its member organizations and other supporters. This year, MIAW runs from October… Read more »
Category: Farm Management
MacAulay downplays impact of proposed tax changes
Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay continues to downplay the potential impact of the Liberals’ proposed tax changes, despite widespread concerns voiced by many farmers, small business owners and their accountants. The minister took 10 minutes to sit down with RealAgriculture in his office in the Confederation Building on Parliament Hill this week to discuss the tax… Read more »
Tax change answers — Part 3: Capital gains
The federal government wants to clamp down on incorporated business owners who it says are claiming capital gains when they should be reporting taxable income or dividends. A capital gain is essentially the increase in the value of a capital asset, such as farmland, above its purchase price. Under Canada’s tax system, only 50 percent… Read more »
CFA lobbies for more time and changes to government tax proposal
Members of Parliament are back at their seats for the fall sitting of Parliament, and tensions are high, with the Conservatives and NDP questioning the Liberals’ proposed tax changes announced in July. Farm groups and farmers have also been vocal in criticizing the government’s plan. “I don’t think the government realized the opposition that would… Read more »
Tax change answers — Part 1: Income splitting
There’s a reason most farms pay accountants to provide tax planning advice. Taxes are complicated. Add multiple pages of new information, unclear definitions, ‘tax cheat’ accusations, some emotional rhetoric, and it’s a challenge, even for accountants, to assess what Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s proposed tax changes could mean for an individual farm business. We’re going… Read more »
Ag minister avoids saying much on tax changes
With farmers, farm organizations, and accounting firms that work in agriculture voicing serious concerns about the federal government’s proposed tax changes, Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay broke his media silence on the subject on Friday afternoon. For all of 50 seconds. The Full Story: Facing the politically dangerous choice of siding with the farm community or… Read more »
MYFB — Ep. 28: The senior partner’s perspective on succession
Every farm succession plan starts and stops with the older generation. In most cases, it’s up to mom and/or dad to determine how and when the transition moves forward. For farm families who are stuck in that process, it’s usually not from a lack of desire to execute, but from paralysis — not knowing where… Read more »
Getting crunched: Government squeezes on farms are adding up
I’m fortunate enough to get to meet all kinds of farmers. Usually when we meet, the conversation is a standard one. What’s the weather been like or how is the harvest going? Politics, just like sex and religion, is usually left out of it. Until recently. Farmers keep bringing it up in their conversations. That… Read more »
Coalition formed to fight federal tax change proposal
Agriculture groups are among more than 40 national organizations that have formed a coalition to fight the federal government’s proposed tax changes for incorporated businesses. The Coalition for Small Business Tax Fairness sent a letter to Finance Minister Bill Morneau asking him to take the proposal off the table. “In ten years at the Canadian… Read more »
A new approach: Turning to consumers for production advice
No one has to tell University of Guelph agricultural economics master’s student Travis Jansen that farmers like him are well-advised to listen to consumers. But he’s doing more than just listening to them – he’s set to learn from them, too. Jansen, who comes from a family hog farm near Seaforth, knows successful farmers have… Read more »
ATV safety — do you wear a helmet on the farm?
When people go trail riding or use their ATV for recreational use, wearing a helmet is something that most don’t blink an eye to. They do it with no questions asked. So why is it when we use them around the farm, we hop on the quad at the same speeds, helmet-less, without thinking twice?… Read more »
Fit Farmer — Ep. 2: Building a home farm gym
One of the biggest challenges in our fitness routine on the farm is strength and conditioning. Cardio is pretty simple with wide open gravel roads and fields. It’s pretty simple to throw on some running shoes or hope on a bike and ride. Strength and conditioning on the other hand, often done at a gym,… Read more »
Manage your grain with confidence with OPI Blue
Farmers invest a lot to produce a crop, from before the seed hits the ground through to the harvest. With all the investment and technology that goes into producing a crop, why stop short when the grain hits the bin? Some of the most successful farmers are using technology to ensure they have the information they… Read more »
APAS young farmers looking to break mental health stigma
Mental health has been in the agriculture spotlight lately, with a push to break the stigma that often surrounds mental health. And the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan’s Young Agricultural Producers (or YAP) committee is hoping to keep the conversation going. Danny Ottenbreit, southeast Saskatchewan farmer and co-chair of the YAP committee, was in the… Read more »
Ag ministers reach deal on new framework dubbed the “Canadian Agricultural Partnership”
Agriculture ministers from across Canada say they reached an agreement in St. John’s today on the core elements of the next agriculture policy framework, which will be called the “Canadian Agricultural Partnership.” CAP is a five-year $3 billion federal-provincial-territorial funding agreement that will replace the current framework, known as Growing Forward 2, which expires at the… Read more »