Farming is not just about producing crops or raising livestock. Much of what separates high performance farms from average to below-average farms is their ability to excel at everything from human resources management and looking after their team to understanding financial ratios and how to deal with the banker, says Rob Hannam, lead facilitator for… Read More
It’s estimated as many as 5,000 people transition out of the Canadian Forces each year. Most of them are between the ages of 28 and 35, and they’re looking for a meaningful career as they enter civilian life. At the same time, finding skilled employees is consistently one of the top challenges across Canadian agriculture — from the… Read More
On a freezing cold late afternoon in February, 14 women gathered in a meeting room at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs office in Woodstock to talk about big-picture issues facing women in the agricultural sector. Maternity leave issues, and their impact on a career, were the focus of this meeting. They… Read More
Coffee shop talk is often revered and repeated, but is it completely honest? What if, instead of comparing your farm and farm practices across the fence row, you instead sat down with farmers from one hundred kilometers away and compared notes? What could you learn? That’s the concept behind formal peer advisory groups, explains Dr… Read More
The Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) announced this week the list of individuals who now form the advisory group for the Supporting the Advancement of Women in Agriculture project. The project, funded through the Status of Women Canada, will “examine and address critical barriers to advancement facing women in the industry.” From there, the… Read More
“Lean” principles originally developed to increase efficiency and reduce waste in the automobile manufacturing sector are being applied in many other business and process-related sectors, including primary agriculture. Toyota is often credited as the first company to develop and intentionally implement Lean principles in their assembly lines decades ago. Last year, the Agri-Food Management Institute, working… Read More
Mind Your Farm Business (MYFB) is a 12-part audio series exploring a wide-range of farm business management topics. Featuring thought-provoking leading experts in an engaging format, MYFB is brought to you by RBC Royal Bank. You can find the full series by tapping here. How many times have you let your gut make a big… Read More
Mind Your Farm Business (MYFB) is a 12-part audio series exploring a wide-range of farm business management topics. Featuring thought-provoking leading experts in an engaging format, MYFB is brought to you by RBC Royal Bank. What’s the plan for your farm? If that question seems far too large and long-term to answer effectively, you’re exactly… Read More
RealAgriculture, the Canadian agriculture digital media leader, is launching a new audio series to assist producers in building their farm management skills. The 12-part series — Mind Your Farm Business — is sponsored by RBC Royal Bank, and new episodes will be released twice a month, beginning June 9th, 2015. Agriculture is not isolated from… Read More
The growing season is a busy one but once in a while some unexpected free time will bust its way into your itinerary. So what do you do? Like me, many of you likely struggle more with free time than with a full calendar of appointments or to do’s. Here are some thoughts on some… Read More
Family business is a challenge for any family. Whether you are the Jones down the lane, the Millers around the bend or the McMahons of WWE fame, family business has advantages and disadvantages. Keeping the drama low in a family business environment can mean success or failure for the business long term. Since it is… Read More
A full-court press, led by Canadian mushroom growers, is on to try to stop hundreds of foreign workers specially trained for agriculture jobs in Canada from having to leave. On April 1, a federally mandated rule kicks in that requires them go home if they’ve been here four years. And it’s going to affect the… Read More
Whether in the NHL or in farming, successful teams know how to work together and communicate. Having captained the Calgary Flames to the Stanley Cup in 1989, hockey Hall of Famer (and moustache legend) Lanny McDonald has a good idea what it’s like to lead a team that accomplishes its goals. Filmed on the Brandon stop of the… Read More
When’s the last time you sat down and thought critically about who does each job on the farm? I mean REALLY thought about it? Certain roles typically go to certain people within a farm — dad might be the lead combine driver, or always driving the seeder, while sons and daughters may have to work… Read More
Layoffs in the oil industry and supporting sectors are leading people to look for jobs elsewhere, but agricultural employers shouldn’t rely on an influx of available labour, according to the head of an online agriculture job board. Eric Spell of AgCareers says it’s too early to say if low oil prices will help address the labour shortage in the… Read More