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Articles by April M. Stewart
'Don't equate us with Toronto news, culture' Ontario farmers tell western colleagues
When it comes to the 2025 federal election, what do farmers from different regions of Canada have in common? Glacier FarmMedia reporters and contributors from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba asked farmers about their election priorities, how represented by the federal government they ve felt and finally, if there s anything they d like farmers from other regions to understand about the issues they face.
Canadian farmers’ view of the federal government differs by province — but not by much | The Western Producer Original
When it comes to the 2025 federal election, what do farmers from different regions of Canada have in common? Glacier FarmMedia reporters and contributors from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba asked farmers about their election priorities, how represented by the federal government they’ve felt — and finally, if there’s anything they’d like farmers from other regions to understand about the issues they face.
Canadian farmers reveal concerns ahead of federal election - Part 2
When it comes to the 2025 federal election, what do farmers from different regions of Canada have in common? Glacier FarmMedia reporters and contributors from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and Manitoba asked farmers about their election priorities, how represented by the federal government they’ve felt — and finally, if there’s anything they’d like farmers from other regions to understand about the issues they face.
Canadian farmers reveal concerns ahead of federal election
When it comes to the 2025 federal election, what do farmers from different regions of Canada have in common? Canadians often lose sight of how big their country is — unless, for example, they get to rub shoulders with Europeans who are staggered by the time it takes to drive across a single province. Canada is big — and with that comes the challenges of bridging different geographies and climate zones, regional cultures, languages, resources and economic needs.
Articles by April Stewart
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Planning for 2025 and beyond
Farming is a complex business full of daily decisions with expensive consequences. Country Guide associate editor, April Stewart, sat down with Evan Shout, a.k.a. the Farmer Coach, for his thoughts and top tips on how farmers can prepare to make decisions not only for the coming year but for the next decade. Below is an excerpt from the podcast (edited for clarity).
Ah, the optimism a new year brings. Read Also One page at a time For those who missed our December issue where Button thanked his readers for their almost two decades of support, you’ll… An invisible line drawn in your mind’s eye between the last year and next as you flip open a fresh calendar. (Or, if you’re younger than me, scroll to the next month on your phone’s calendar app).
Is more debt essential for farm success?
There are many pressures on the agriculture industry and its individual businesses. As Canadian growers and producers, our farms are expected to do more at every turn. Read Also The numbers you need to know when selling an agribusiness It’s not easy to sell a business that you’ve poured your heart and soul into. And selling an agribusiness isn’t… Farms must maintain peak performance. That’s clear. And they must generate or leverage ahead-of-the-curve innovation and technology.
The numbers you need to know when selling an agribusiness
It’s not easy to sell a business that you’ve poured your heart and soul into. And selling an agribusiness isn’t as simple as selling a piece of equipment or land. Read Also To debt, or not to debt There are many pressures on the agriculture industry and its individual businesses. As Canadian growers and producers, our farms are… Potential buyers must meet the owner’s criteria, often including that they must be a good bet to protect their legacy, which means they may also be scarce.
Are you even a real farmer if you haven’t had any tough conversations on the farm? All kidding aside, running a business with family and often non-family employees can involve some difficult and emotionally charged conversations. Read Also More owners at your farm table Through history, most farms ended up sold or split between siblings. Today, however, we’re seeing a big change.
Bryt Farms positions itself for growth in dairy industry
“So many people told us ‘You can’t do it’. I think that just lit a fire underneath us and made us work harder.” Which is what Dave and Jennifer Bryson of Dobbinton, Ont., have done, proving all the doubters wrong. Read Also Having the right (business) stuff for your farm It’s less true than it used to be but it’s still safe to say that few of today’s farmers got… But they did something else too.
Summer Series: How to use a situational analysis to set farm goals
Knowing exactly where you’re starting from, and with what resources, leads to more efficient decision-making. Here’s a tool to help you plan for a new process, project or product on the farm.
What's your 'best advice' for the farm?
The theme of our Summer Series for May is best advice – and what a pair of loaded words! Read Also Summer Series: How to prepare for business meetings During family farm meetings it’s important for everyone to take off their family hat and address each other in a… Because what seems like “good” advice to one person might feel outdated or unapplicable to another. And advice taken in good faith from someone you respect and admire might not turn out as you had hoped.
Welcome to our Summer Series!
Are you headed to the field? So are we! Country Guide is all digital, all summer. Read Also [Summer Series: Best Advice] Advice for Young Farmers Once they’ve been in the biz for a few years, some farmers wish they hadn’t followed certain advice. Others wish… We’ve got stories from farmers across the country who share their insights about how to meet the challenges and opportunities of today’s agriculture industry. We’ve got advice from Canada’s top ag experts on topics to grow your business.
A 'real' solution for managing change
Change and challenge affect everyone differently. Even so, research by the American Psychological Association shows we can get better at handling life-changing and stressful situations over time. We can acquire coping skills, a.k.a. resilience.
This old land: Where is farming in Quebec headed?
In a province where only two per cent of its land is suitable for agriculture, Quebec has been losing cropland to the province’s expanding cities at the rate of 12 football fields every day, and it has been losing farmland at that speed for nearly three decades. Read Also For the fun of it! We all know the feeling. There are times when farming can seem relentless.
The new farm leader
Agriculture has moved relentlessly forward for centuries. In a practical sense this is thanks to mechanical, scientific and technological innovations. But one intangible component is no less critical to maintaining momentum: farm leaders. Read Also If you build it on HR… If you want something done, ask a busy person. We all sometimes say this, and there’s a good reason why….
What’s in store for Canada’s farms in 2024?
Land is up. Inputs are up. Commodities are volatile. And that’s just a start. Climate change is getting real. Interest rates are too. And the international scene is chaos. Does it all add up to good news for your farm in 2024? Bad news? And what can you do to keep your farm on the right side of history, not only safe and prosperous in the near term but well positioned for future generations?
A novel approach to estate planning
The Naked Opus: Growing Your Family Wealth for the Long Term By Chris Delaney This is a great read, tackling one of the most difficult topics every farm must face. How can a family build a future that lasts for generations instead of frittering away what it has worked so hard to achieve? So let’s start with the book’s title: The Naked Opus. Why naked? As every farmer knows, planning how to transfer their wealth from one generation to the next can be scary, embarrassing and fraught.
The Farmer’s Office: Tools, Tips and Templates to Successfully Manage a Growing Farm Business
By April Stewart Contributor Reading Time: 3 minutes Photo: Courtesy New Society Publishers The Farmer’s Office: Tools, Tips and Templates to Successfully Manage a Growing Farm Business By Julia Shanks New Society Publishers / 288 pages / $24.95 Launching, growing, pivoting and stabilizing your farm business all share one essential ingredient: a solid financial road map.
The 80/20 Principle. The Secret to Achieving More with Less
By April Stewart Contributor Reading Time: 3 minutes “Pass up the thrills, bells and whistles,” Koch advises. “When something has become complex, simplify it.” Photo: Courtesy Crown Publishing The 80/20 Principle. The Secret to Achieving More with Less By Richard Koch Crown Publishing / 336 pages / $21 If it feels like you spend an inordinate amount of time working for an unequal amount of reward or output, you’re not crazy. It’s the 80/20 Principle at play.
Defibrillator for your brain
By April Stewart Contributor Reading Time: 3 minutes Photo: Simon & Schuster (supplied) Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen Dan Heath Simon & Schuster / 320 pages / $30 Most of us feel that the way we make decisions is the only natural way to do it. There isn’t a better way. If there was a better way, we’d already be doing it. Or would we? Here’s a book that will make you think twice.
Three Lean books to read in 2021
Lean in Agriculture: Create More Value with Less Work on the Farm By Vibeke Fladkjaer Nielsen and Susanne Pejstrup The Lean Dairy Farm: Eliminate Waste, Save Time, Cut Costs By Jana Hocken with Mat Hocken The Lean Farm: How to Minimize Waste, Increase Efficiency, and Maximize Value and Profits with Less Work By Ben Hartman On the farm, mid-winter is typically when we recalibrate our harried lives and set intentions and goals for the year ahead.
A defibrillator for your brain
By April Stewart Contributor Reading Time: 3 minutes This book actually does deliver on its promise to help us think more concretely and develop better solutions. Photo: Supplied Running a farm business, trying to make a profit, and balancing work and family is (brace for the understatement) hard. We all know the pattern. Too often, we think big, become overwhelmed, and then let some of our achievable ideas, not to mention our innovative dreams, wilt and die like neglected potted plants.
2020's Biggest Rumors About Applying To B-School
The business school application process can be daunting and stressful. (Trust us, we know. All of us at Gatehouse Admissions went through it ourselves!) From studying for the GMAT or GRE and attending virtual admission events to managing recommenders and juggling impending application deadlines, candidates definitely have their hands full. Complicating things further in 2020 is the proliferation of misinformation out there—and no, we are not talking about politics.
How might penguins offer farm advice? Read on
By April Stewart Contributor Reading Time: 3 minutes Harvard biz prof John Kotter predicts big wins for farmers who see it’s vital to get better at managing change. Photo: Supplied What is more urgent than a melting iceberg? Not much, say scientists. No matter where we live or what work we do, all of us have got to expect a devastating series of cataclysmic ripple effects as long as the world’s ice continues to melt. But the penguins have a plan.
Why you should go slow to go fast
Abraham Lincoln famously said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” In short, if you want to do a job right and do it well, you first need to spend adequate time preparing yourself, the tools and the process. How does this translate for your overall business strategy? In today’s volatile and ever-shifting agribusiness environment, efficiency is the underlying driver of every decision you make on the farm.
Building healthy business partnerships
The first four columns in this series explored planning for and managing growth, assessing and mitigating risk, and how to keep an eye on cash flow so you can bankroll your growth projects. In this column we’ll look at partnerships, specifically the underlying dynamics of what constitutes a healthy one. Business partnerships can be tricky to navigate but are often essential to building a business.
Analyzing your farm's cash flow
The last three of our Next Steps columns (see the ‘Related Articles’ links further down) covered the why, the when, and the what for ratcheting your farm business up a notch or two. The next logical topic to explore is the “how” of making your plans a reality, i.e. cash flow. I’m not going to lie. I initially struggled with wrapping my head around writing about such an unsexy though of course critical component of day-to-day farm operations.
Thinking about risk?
Agriculture is not for the faint of business heart. If ever there was a job that should come with the warning “avoid if allergic to risk” in bright red letters, it’s farming with its cantankerous and cumbersome risk factors like weather, trade agreements and regulations. Risk has been part of human lives since we crawled out of the ocean, scurrying away from predators.
You want to grow your farm business. But how?
In January’s column we looked at how the process of business strategy planning helps orient you on the goals map. But that still leaves a big question: How do you get there? If you’re an existing farm, this means developing a growth strategy.
Introducing next steps into your farm operation
Stories in Country Guide often explore the latest, the most innovative and sometimes the boldest in on-farm business management strategies across Canada. These stories are inspirational, aspirational, thought-provoking — but not always accessible for every farmer. In this new series ‘Next Steps,’ we focus on continuous improvement; the proven practices, the processes and sometimes just the tweaks that grow a farm’s profitability, sustainability and net worth.
The skills you’ll need as farms become more digital
In October, Country Guide covered the report “Farmer 4.0: How the Coming Skills Revolution Can Transform Agriculture” published by RBC, with its emphasis on how the era of super-automation will change how we farm. “As Canadian farmers leave traditional tasks to smart machines, and focus on strategy and systems, they’ll be better positioned than ever to feed a fast-growing global population,” said RBC senior vice-president John Stackhouse.
Is it time to rethink your consumer approach?
Once upon a time, the standard advice was that if farmers want to connect with consumers, they should share the fascinating science and facts that make up the world of agriculture. Wouldn’t consumers be enthralled by the behind-the-scenes mechanics and science of how their food is made? Actually, most people don’t care about the mechanics of anything. They just care if it works. If your car gets you from A to B on a daily basis, all is right with the world.
Managing your business through stress and rough times
Feeling a little grumpy and stressed these days? Seems it’s been that kind of year so far. In an age of mental health awareness, it’s no surprise to learn that stress can easily mess with your mental and physical health. Feeling foggy, distracted or listless can ultimately lead to less-than-optimal decisions as your focus is highjacked by real or perceived threats and feelings of powerlessness.
Why Quebec’s approach to agricultural policy is being studied by farmers across the country
For centuries, agriculture has been a major contributor to the economic engine of Quebec and to the vitality of its rural regions. In 2016, the GDP of Quebec’s bio-food industry was 7.4 per cent, totalled $23.4 billion, and created 12 per cent of jobs in the province. From 2013 to 2016, the GDP of the bio-food industry rose by 9.0 per cent, a higher growth rate than that of the Quebec economy as a whole (+4.2 per cent).
Two new resources to help with your farm transition process
When the words “transition process” come up, they often provoke a sigh or maybe even a shudder. Nor should anyone pretend that transitioning your farm business will be anything but a lengthy process, or that it won’t involve difficult conversations and decisions. But as always, if you’re equipped with the right tools and methods, the experience may be more gratifying and successful — and less painful. The process is important.
Use science to be a better agvocate
As a farmer, you use science every day. On a day like today you might even use it to calculate how much snow load your barn can withstand, or to improve the success of your agvocacy efforts. Research shows that to build successful farmer-consumer relationships, we need to connect with people emotionally by telling our stories, and we must build trust based on shared values.
Why it’s so hard to debunk myths (and the secret to doing it)
The expression “mud sticks” doesn’t just refer to the aggravation you experience during spring planting. It also means that misinformation seems to have an uncanny knack for settling in and never letting go. Take, for instance, these gems that persist despite (or perhaps because of) an online world of information at our fingertips: bovine flatulence and belching are single-handedly causing climate change, a persistent belief in cow tipping and brown cows give brown milk.
Filling in the knowledge gaps for consumers
It’s not an earth-shattering revelation to those working in agriculture that there is a farm-to-plate knowledge gap. We know that most consumers are generations removed from the farm and have misconceptions or a lack of accurate information about agriculture. The Knowledge Gap theory is that information has traditionally been more accessible to those with higher socio-economic status.
How to argue, intelligently
In an increasingly polarized world, arguing seems to be a favourite pastime. Trolls (those delightful online creatures who start quarrels and sow discord for fun) treat the internet like a no-holds-barred Wild West. Others get lost in detailed rants and forget to listen — or forget what they were arguing about in the first place. However, thanks to disciplines like social and behavioural sciences and neuroscience, we can learn to argue better.
How to respond to questions you don’t want to answer
In the age of social media, consumers are feeling empowered to ask more and more questions, which means that answering questions about farm practices has become another “to-do” on your already supercharged list. Farmers not only play an important role in the food conversation, they can be said to have a duty to participate in those conversations.
Prairie Futures and Cash Prices
Photo: iStock Once we know something, it’s hard to unknow it. The curse of knowledge makes it harder for you to understand where the other person is at, making it more difficult to begin a dialogue at the right (and most valuable) starting point and to explain things in a way that would be easily comprehensible to a novice. Embrace not knowing. With learned beliefs (preconceptions) out of the way, you’ll find yourself in a place of mental openness.
Why you should be on social media
Technology is ubiquitous on today’s farms, and your social life is no exception.Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram allow farmers to share their stories, engage and educate consumers, and connect with and learn from others in their industry around the world.While some current research does point to the pitfalls of social media (it can be addictive and narcissism-inducing, and it can whittle away at valuable face-to-face communication skills), social media can also be...
Recognizing the curse of knowledge
You don’t know what you don’t know. Case in point: I recently read an article about a farmer’s experience speaking to a group of urban moms in Chicago. These otherwise educated and well-informed women thought that seed company signs posted at fields along roadways were a statement of ownership. In the age of genetically modified organisms, they thought the signs meant that these were corporate farms owned by corporate entities or giant seed companies. We don’t know what we don’t know.
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