The federal government has opened the application process for the first Canadian Agricultural Youth Council. In a press release, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says the Council will identify new and emerging issues, enable on-going dialogue on challenges and opportunities, share information and best practices, and provide advice on the strengths and weaknesses of policies and… Read More
You might think that how your parents treated you growing up has little to do with what kind of employee or manager you are (yes, even on the farm), but in fact, parenting has a profound impact on how we interact in the workplace. Everything from how we dress and present ourselves, to our priorities,… Read More
Contrary to an oft-quoted statistic, Darrell Bricker says we are not racing to a population of 9 billion by 2050. In fact Bricker, CEO of IPSOS Public Affairs and author of Empty Planet, argues that population dynamics mean Canada needs to think more strategically about attracting new immigrants and finding new export markets. Bricker says… Read More
Farmers will hear much talk of the need for resilience in the years ahead. From weather and markets, to trade, to family and managing day-to-day operations, farmers need to be able to cope with the challenges and setbacks that are routinely part of production agriculture. No one personifies resilience more than Springfield, PEI, dairy farmer… Read More
How can farmers achieve more of what matters most and stay ahead of the curve? Successfully operating within a demanding food production system is “driven by how we handle ourselves in complexity,” says Kelly Dobson, a Fairfax, Man., farmer and also president of LeaderShift Inc, a company which supports personal and professional development for business… Read More
In a spin on ‘walk before you can run,’ Kristjan Hebert says that farmers need to focus on the data they already generate before thinking about large-scale data collection. Hebert, managing partner of Hebert Grain Ventures, says that farmers need to focus on understanding their own numbers such as debt servicing ratio and access and… Read More
The longevity of a business is less about how well it does in the good times, and more about how it fares through the rough patches. A farm being resilient can come in many forms, but usually comes down to the strength of the management team running it and the financial nimbleness of the overall… Read More
Terry Betker has worked with farmers to establish peer groups for more than a decade. Traditionally, farmers engage with their peers to share management ideas in informal settings — everywhere from industry meetings to the local coffee shop — but formal peer groups are not common in Canadian agriculture, says Betker, president of Winnipeg-based Backswath… Read More
When you think about filling part-time, short-term or contract work positions in agriculture, most likely assume the discussion will be about the temporary foreign worker program. But work opportunities in agriculture are as diverse as the industry itself, and AgCall has approached filling these part-time labour and expertise needs with a unique business model. Arron… Read More
What could Canadian agriculture achieve if it had 123,000 new skilled workers over the next decade? According to RBC Royal Bank, all that new labour would help the sector realize its tremendous economic potential and could contribute an additional $11 billion to Canada’s GDP by 2030, making agriculture more productive than auto manufacturing and aerospace… Read More
Working with family can be the most rewarding part of the farm business, but it also has the potential to be one of the most challenging aspects, full of emotion, relationship evolution, and conflict. In this episode of Mind Your Farm Business, host Shaun Haney is joined by Ed and Lyle Peters, father-son farm partners… Read More
A lot has changed for Debra Harrison in the past 39 years. Almost four decades ago she was the first female engineer ever hired by John Deere. Today she is president of John Deere Canada. Earlier this week, Harrison shared that journey with 450 people attending the Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference at Niagara Falls,… Read More
It’s okay to not have all the answers when it comes to how you want your farm or agriculture career to look in five, 10, or 20 years down the road. Steph Kowalski, agronomy lead for Sollio Agriculture, says she ended up in her leadership role somewhat accidentally, but not without significant commitment to getting… Read More
Robotics are changing the dynamics of dairy businesses, and co-evolving along with them. “Today, conventional dairies spend 50-60 per cent of the total labour on the physical act of milking cows, (and) only 10 to 20 per cent on feeding cows, five to 10 per cent on health, and the other 10 per cent on… Read More
We’ve seen results from an early-campaign survey on what Canadians are worried about in regards to food, and we’ve heard from each of the four main parties heading into this federal election. But what I want to know is, what are YOUR priorities, Canadian agriculture? As media, I watched the debate, I interviewed Sylvain Charlebois… Read More