A private member's bill tabled in the House of Commons last week aims to reduce the tax burden of intergenerational transfers of farms that are incorporated. "My bill would end a blatantly unfair situation that puts business people, farmers, and fishing vessel operators at a disadvantage when they want to pass their business on to... Read More
Category: Farm Management
The online sharing concept that has produced Uber, Airbnb and other examples of peer-to-peer services aimed at better utilizing existing capital is developing in the U.S. farm machinery market. MachineryLink Sharing, which launched in the fourth quarter of 2015, bills itself as the industry's first internet-based equipment sharing program. Farmers, and even some equipment dealers,... Read More
"Innovation" is a buzzword in today's world, often associated with technology, but it's not necessarily about gadgets, as our guest for this episode in the Mind Your Farm Business series points out. "Innovation really is about grabbing ideas from other parts of the planet or other ideas you see people doing and bringing that back... Read More
The federal agriculture minister has launched online consultations on what Growing Forward 3 — or whatever name the Liberals give the next agricultural policy framework — should look like. Growing Forward 2, which encompasses most federal and provincial programs for agricultural research, market development and business risk management, expires on April 1st, 2018. Lawrence MacAulay,... Read More
After a long winter of farm shows, conferences and trade shows it made a lot of sense to hop back on an airplane and take the family on a vacation. It wouldn't surprise many of you that I have a few Aeroplan points to use up. Free flights!!! In today's world of busy, taking time... Read More
Farms and ag businesses could be eligible for federal funding if they hire young people to do work that benefits the environment. Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna visited AAFC's Central Experiment Farm in Ottawa on Monday to announce up to $1.9 million in funding over the... 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, but there are many other areas where a farm business may be exposed. These risks are often unrecognized because nobody's taken the time to go through an exercise of assessing risks and... Read More
Ask Francisco Rodriquez a question about dairy robots and he’ll tell you about people. With more than 38,000 robots milking cows on 19,000 farms around the globe, the technology is becoming ubiquitous throughout the dairy business. But what does it mean for dairy producers as technology revolutionizes the traditional daily milking grind? “The future in... Read More
It's the world's challenge to provide safe and affordable food, Kay Kuenker, entrepreneur and consultant told delegates at this year's Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference (West). And, according to Kuenker, women must be involved in addressing this issue. "Women are showing that every imaginable discipline or role in that can be fulfilled by a woman,"... Read More
What do you want to improve on your farm this spring? As part of TechTour LIVE last month, Rob Hannam of Synthesis Agri-Food Network encouraged farmers to apply "lean" principles to their farm operations. As he explains in the video below, "lean" is a philosophy for reducing loss and waste from a process. There are... Read More