Conference season is upon us, and joining the virtual ranks of meetings is Farm Management Canada’s (FMC) Ag Excellence conference. The virtual space can provide a lot more opportunity both to virtual speakers, and to people who otherwise can’t physically make it. Joining RealAgriculture’s Bernard Tobin to discuss the core concepts of the event is… Read More
Category: Succession Planning
Farming with family can be a tricky situation, and being able to make sound business decisions is such an important part of it. How do you decide on management decisions, equipment purchases, crop inputs, and the like? A key strategy to tackle decision making and delegating accordingly is to have regular farm meetings for everything… Read More
Family farms that hold regular business meetings are 21 per cent more profitable than those who don’t. That may be, but the mere mention of “meeting” likely makes you roll your eyes or maybe grumble in disapproval. Family meetings might bring up some not-so-pleasant memories, but Elaine Froese, farm family coach, says it doesn’t have… Read More
Creating an advisory board for your farm business can be an effective way to bring outside experience, perspective, and expertise on to the farm, without adding to the management team. As some farms are learning, the overall size and complexity of the farm business has grown far beyond what just one, or a few people… Read More
Emotion, money, and legacy are three factors that can potentially contribute to a very bumpy farm business succession. A farm transition doesn’t have to end badly, but too often farm families ignore best practices for a succession, based on the illusion that your farm is different from everyone else’s. While every farm is unique in… Read More
Living with extended family can be hard enough; adding work, money, and legacy to the mix makes it nearly impossible. But it doesn’t have to be this way, and Jolene Brown, farmer, speaker, and author, joins this RealAg LIVE! to talk about the trials and tribulations of farming with family. Brown is entertaining, real, and… Read More
COVID-19 has been an unprecedented situation. People throughout all sectors are going through a lot with their businesses, and it has shed new light on the word “risk” and risk management. When farmers are doing their strategic risk analysis for the year, and they get to the threat portion, a global pandemic wasn’t exactly something… Read More
Transition planning is multi-faceted. There’s the business, the land, and the emotions to deal with; and figuring it out is contingent on the owners’ willingness to start a hard conversation. For farm businesses, often rooted in a family ownership, this means the parents must first have the initial discussion says Merle Good of GRS Consulting,… Read More
When farmers talk about succession, the conversation typically revolves around how the farm could be transitioned to the next generation of the family. But when Ravena, Ont., beef and grain farmers James and Joan McKinlay talk succession, the conversation is rarely about their family. Much of the focus is on a generation of non-farmers who… Read More
What are your first thoughts when you wake up in the morning? Motivational speaker, author, and entrepreneur Darci Lang advocates for positivity. “Focus on the 90 per cent, is my message. [It’s] my belief that we all hold this big magnifying glass out in front of us in our lives, and we have a choice… Read More
Are you farming year-to-year, or looking five, 10, or even 20 years out? Edgar Hammermeister, with Western Ag Professional Agronomy, says that solid, long-term crop planning is one key piece of the long-term viability puzzle of any farm, but one that often gets dropped when short-term economics or challenges arise. For Hammermeister, long-term crop planning… Read More
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
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
Why do family farm businesses fail? Quite often it’s not economics but rather family governance issues and relationship problems, says farmer and business consultant Dick Wittman. Many farms fail because operators don’t run the farm in a professional manner, says Wittman who learned plenty of valuable lessons managing a family-operated 20,000 acre crop, cattle, and… Read More