Mind Your Farm Business

No two farm business plans are identical. A young, aggressive producer focused on expanding likely needs a comprehensive... Read more

In case anybody needs reminding, agriculture is a cyclical business. It’s important to pad the balance sheet during good... Read more

Risk — a four letter word that drives farmers crazy. As farmers, our chances of success are greatest when we know the ri... Read more

The good times in agriculture tend to happen in 40-year cycles. Unfortunately, for anyone kicking off a farming career t... Read more

The finding is staggering. A recent IPSOS Reid poll found that certain farms achieve five-times higher return on assets ... Read more

“One day, this will all be yours.” If this is the sum total of succession planning you’ve done as a farm owner, or if, a... Read more

Family farms involve a complex interaction between two worlds — the family and the business, and both these worlds are i... Read more

Working capital is the king of financial metrics, especially during the bottom of a market cycle. A farm can have large ... Read more

There are some stubborn myths in agriculture — rain falls 90 days after fog, wheat should be seeded in bushels per acre,... Read more

When thinking about risks to your farm, what comes to mind? Weather and market risks are usually at the top of the list,... Read more

Every farm succession plan starts and stops with the older generation. In most cases, it’s up to mom and/or dad to deter... Read more

How does that old saying go? Crop prices take the stairs up but the elevator down. It could be said that crop input pric... Read more

What comes to mind when you hear the term “accrual accounting?” Perhaps you flashback to filing your taxes last year whe... Read more

There are sound reasons to incorporate the farm — significant financial reasons, operation benefits and very real long-t... Read more

Believe it or not, the farm transition can actually be a joyful journey. But that can only happen once three things are ... Read more

Is there an ideal exchange rate for Canada’s agriculture industry? That depends, of course, on what you’re selling or wh... Read more

Capital assets don’t buy groceries. If this statement makes you scratch your head a little, you’re likely the older gene... Read more

Like Bachman Turner Overdrive says, you’re “Taking care of business and working overtime,” — but do you take time to car... Read more

Perhaps more contentious than the buy versus rent debate is the question of when and why to incorporate the farm. The fe... Read more

Forget the silver bullet, whether it’s some nonexistent piece of machinery or the latest snake oil crop input. In realit... Read more