Is the glass you’re looking at half full or half empty? I think farmers are inherently optimistic, even though when you talk to them, you’ll hear things aren’t going well. Weather, prices, employees and maybe family can be challenging and can dominate a farmer’s...
How is it that at the end of each month, the bank account is empty? That’s a question that haunts the great majority of Canadians of all ages. Of course, there can be many reasons. For individuals and families struggling with this seemingly perpetual reality, it makes...
A few months ago, I wrote a piece for Manitoba Beef Producers’ Cattle Country publication called Managing Your Farm Through Uncertainty (May 2022). In it, I discussed that with so much uncertainty on the horizon, improving your farm management and focusing on aligning...
I attended a high school class reunion a week ago. One of my classmates was pretty excited about recently winning $15,000 in a lottery draw and recounted how she had spent the surprise windfall. We all remembered another classmate who had won $1 million in a...
I suggest to farming families that they take time to look back at where they were five or 10 years ago and then compare that to the current state of the farm and family. Recently, I had an interesting communication exchange with a younger farm couple. They have a...
It’s important to keep accurate track of grain inventory I remember kicking through the snow in the middle of winter, trying to find some decent-sized stones to throw against a granary when trying to figure out how much grain was in it. It wasn’t an exact...