Analyzing your farm’s future cash requirements can help safeguard you from a major pitfall.

Common pitfalls in farm finances

Farm Family Coach: Active management in some key areas can reduce unnecessary struggles for your farm

Consider how cash management, diversification, risk management and investments could reduce unnecessary struggles faced by your farm.



Adapt to change with the power of grief

Adapt to change with the power of grief

Farm Family Coach: Major changes — even the ones we know are for the better — will come with a surge of negative emotions

When a person goes through a major change in life, they experience a downward trend of negative emotions — often expressed as anger or sadness — before they can fully accept that change.

Janos Botschner, a researcher with the Community Safety Knowledge Alliance, speaks at CropConnect in Winnipeg on Feb. 12.

Farming community needs to talk more about cybersecurity

The technology now brought to bear in farming makes farms more vulnerable to digital threats

Glacier FarmMedia — Talking about cybersecurity not only raises awareness in the farming community — it can help reduce the stigma suffered by those victimized by cyberattacks. That was the message from Janos Botschner, a behavioural scientist and researcher with the Community Safety Knowledge Alliance. Botschner spoke at the CropConnect Conference in Winnipeg on Feb. […] Read more


How we connect with others, such as our parents, depends on variables including our cultural backgrounds, our personal styles — and our external stressors.

On-farm communication improves when we start with connection

Seeds of Encouragement: Where you stand with your offspring comes from their relationships to you

Elaine writes: In so many of the families we coach, we see communication breakdowns leading to escalation of conflicts. In some cases, using strategies that provide family members with the tools they need to have better communication can help — but in many cases a relationship between family members has broken down to the point […] Read more

Young Couple Leaning on Car overlooking Farmland, Ile D'orleans, Quebec

Making marriage work on your farm

The dance between farm work and family time will never have a complete resolution

February is Heart Month and a good time to work on the state of your union: marriage, spousal relationships and couple care. John Gottman is a highly respected U.S. psychologist and author of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. Here I’ve added a farm perspective to his tips based on those seven principles. Sharing […] Read more


Like machinery, farming family teams require alignment and organization.

Focus on your family strengths to move forward

Seeds of Encouragement: The Appreciative Inquiry exercise can shed new light on the potential of your people

Elaine writes: What if you could break free from being stuck, by emphasizing the positive aspects of your farm family business? One of my core strengths, according to the Clifton StrengthsFinder quiz, is positivity. As a coach I often see the positive choices ahead and I hope this article by my coaching teammate Crisol Gonzalez […] Read more

Joseph and Reba check the pasture and the cows together.

Trips to pasture become adventure time

Eppich News: The weather was good for getting off hay and harvest has commenced

Mid-August was warm with almost no rain. On Aug. 10 Gregory started cutting our hay over at Landis. On the 13th I started baling at Landis while Gregory continued to cut ahead of me. It was drying very nicely and so I was able to bale what he had cut just two days before. On […] Read more