In early January, I was fortunate to be invited to be involved in a panel discussion on AgVisonTV hosted by Kevin Stewart. The topic was farm debt and was it was a great experience. I was joined on the panel by Dr. George Brinkman, a retired agricultural economist at Guelph University and Dina Cover, an Economist at… Read More
Category: Farm Management
At the International Livestock Congress (ILC), Dr. David Kohl spoke about some of the things the top performing farmers and ranchers are doing to survive in this extreme market volatility and global recession. Dr. Kohl also comments on the differences between Canadian and American farmers. Check Out More ILC 2009 Content
This is part 1 of 2 of my interview with Lloyd Dyck, CEO of Brett Young. Brett Young is truly unique because it is family owned and provides a a very diversified product line to the marketplace. In this video Lloyd discusses how the future growth of the company is in biologicals like PodCeal and… Read More
There is much speculation around canola acres for 2009 in Western Canada. Farmers are hesitant to order canola seed, retailers are hesitant to speculate on inventory, distributors are cautious, and seed companies will not treat on speculation just to make sure seed is available for spring. What we have here is a system that is… Read More
When I took economics in University, one of the concepts that I was taught was economies of scale. This concept is defined as obtaining cost advantages that a business obtains due to expansion. In farming there is a constant thirst by farmers to add land or head space to their operation. It is quite common… Read More
Risk is well known board game, played on a map of the world, in which players effectively bet (take on calculated risk) and play to take over more and more countries and ultimately rule the world. I am just musing here, but if you were taking stock of countries and their respective currencies, would it… Read More
If you really examine the issues that family farms face you might conclude that they are set up to fail. I am not talking about challenges like low commodity prices or high input costs. What I mean by this is that families that farm together really face tough battles that are different than regular corporate… Read More
In my role at Haney Farms, I get to chat with many farmers from across the country which allows me to keep my finger on the pulse of the farming community. Another great way to further understand the pulse or the issues of farmers is to talk to equipment dealers, grain buyers and financiers to… Read More
Recently I did an interview with the Owner of Germination Magazine, Robynne Anderson. In terms of my writing interests, Robynne has been a strong mentor for me. I was quite honored to have Robynne ask me to participate in her GIANT VIEWS program. Robynne’s company Issues Ink is the North American leader in covering the… Read More
By Shaun Haney There are very advantageous financing programs out in the market right now for inputs (seed, crop protection, fertilizer) this winter. These financing programs may include do not pay or no interest until a given date. These can be fantastic programs for farmers but you need to be careful. You do not want… Read More
I had a great conversation today with a fellow farmer in Saskatchewan. We talked at length about the significance of the commodity prices hitting the floor boards again. Is the sky falling versus there may be some opportunities for those that do not panic sell. As I have mentioned before these are challenging times that… Read More
As I talk to customers it seems that there must be lower amounts of fertilizer being purchased this fall. I think that there is less fertilizer being purchased for a couple different reasons. One is that there was a significant amount of equipment and infrastructure purchased by farmers in the spring while prices were double… Read More
Today has driven me crazy. I realized that I made a mistake at work that is not going to create a huge loss on a deal but a loss nonetheless. They say that you should learn from your mistakes but that does not make me feel any better at all. I hate making mistakes because… Read More
Due to the fact that my Trish my wife is traveling in the US all week I have been acting as a single parent. I made the comment to my mom tonight who was watching the kids for me while I was at a meeting that “I have a new appreciation for single parents.” This… Read More