RealAgriculture.com’s Bern Tobin sat down yesterday with FCC’s chief agricultural economist Jean-Philippe Gervais to dig deep into what’s behind the recent run up in Ontario land values and where prices are headed. In this video fresh from yesterday’s full conference day at the Southwest Agricultural Conference being held at Ridgetown, Ont., Gervais answers some heady… Read More
Category: Farm Management
Agriculture has been on a roll for the last few years. Commodity and land values are up and interest rates are down — these are good times for farmers. How do you make the most of it? According to Dr. Danny Klinefelter, professor and extension economist with Texas A&M University, the time to prepare for a… Read More
2013 will be upon us before you know it and with that comes a great way to kick off the new year. FarmTech 2013 is one of Western Canada’s premiere agricultural events and a great place for producers to learn more about the industry. The three day event features 5 keynote speakers and over 30… Read More
Those who haven’t thought about or planned their business succession will have someone who has planned theirs take over their farm or business. It’s that simple. That’s according to Daryl Ritchie, chairman and CEO of MNP LLC, in this episode of the RealLeaders series. What’s more, Ritchie says that too often businesses and farms focus… Read More
Tuesday nights are pretty important on Twitter if you’re involved in agriculture. Tuesday nights are #AgChat nights — a few hours of moderated conversation on a particular topic of interest for farmers, industry and anyone else interested in agriculture. Last night’s topic was farm business management. Farmers and aspiring farmers alike weighed in on questions… Read More
Keeping the crop in the bin during market dips but still having the bills paid is one advantage of using a cash advance program. For canola and several other crops, the cash advance is administered by the Canadian Canola Growers Association. Farmers can access $100,000 interest free, and up to another $300,000 borrowed at CIBC’s… Read More
An idea is only good if it works. I know that statement may fall under the category of “Duh”, but when it comes to putting theory into practice on your farm, it has to be tailor made for YOUR farm and how you run it. Someone can say, “you need to cut costs”, but only… Read More
Farm Credit Canada recently released its latest farmland values (for January to June, 2012). The national average increase of 8.6% semi-annually is staggering, especially considering that it follows on the heels of a 6.9% increase from the six months previous. I have to ask — if this trend of increasing farmland prices continues, what will… Read More
The face of Canada is constantly changing, however, a great deal of those changes happen so slowly they go unnoticed. But sometimes changes take place that can’t help but be felt. Any of those shifts that involve the famous or infamous “baby boomer” generation tend to be some of the more noticeable demographic shifts. That’s… Read More
If you were given the choice between playing the game or sitting down together to come up with the rules of the game which would you pick? Here we see the inherent problem with the family business and the dilemma of succession planning. Unfortunately, we can play the game for years before we run into… Read More
Old MacDonald had a farm but apparently it is more common than expected. Along with Old Man Smith, and Old Joe there are many seniors still farming in Canada. With only 8.2% of the operators being younger than 35, the farmer pool over the age of 55 dwarfs its younger counterparts. Many times the lack… Read More
For some reason there has been some significant discussion on Twitter lately amongst different farmers regarding the suggested negative impact that Hutterite Colonies have on agriculture. For some its easy to pick on Hutterites. They dress differently than you and I. Hutterites live a lifestyle that is not appealing for many. Once you get past… Read More
Knowing where you’re at as a business is a critically important component in making good business decisions. Building a financial dashboard gives you one of the most singularly important tools to be able to do that. A financial dashboard gives you a quick overview of the financial history of your business. It gives you a… Read More
The best and the most valuable advice comes from people who have actually been in the situation that they’re giving advice about. So when a topic as touchy and as potentially difficult as succession comes up, you need that “first hand experience” type of advice. Lee Markert brought that advice to producers when he spoke… Read More
Choosing financial software for your business is a custom fit kind of operation. There are a number of things to consider when you make that choice that are uniquely tied to your business, allowing you to expand and grow without having to switch programs. Ideally, your software should be as customizable as your business. With… Read More