Search
Better Farming OntarioBetter PorkBetter Farming Prairies

Better Farming Ontario Featured Articles

Better Farming Ontario magazine is published 11 times per year. After each edition is published, we share featured articles online.


Behind the Lines - May 2008

Saturday, May 10, 2008

It doesn't take too much flipping through back issues of this publication to realize that farming, in one way or another, goes from crisis to crisis.

The BSE crisis struck in 2003 and still plagues the beef industry. In 2004, American pork producers launched countervail against Canadian exports. Only two springs ago, grain and oilseed farmers were rallying tractors in Queen's Park and Ottawa and taking countervail action against corn imports from the United States. Now high feed prices and a weak U.S. currency threaten to bring livestock farmers to their knees.

Throughout all these difficulties, an overwhelming question remains: who will farm in the future? How does a young person get started? As one farming veteran remarked to a Better Farming editor, "no one starts out of their back pocket any more."

How does one highly capitalized generation pass on an operation to sons and daughters and their spouses? To answer that question, Better Farming writers Kate Procter and Mary Baxter sought the experiences of six farm families.

Their story starts on page 14.

Writers also consulted with a number of experts on the succession planning.

In tough times, should people continue to look at succession? All of the planners said "yes," according to Baxter. "They understood that tough times are tough times, but it is always important to get these plans in place even if you can't act on all of them. If something else happens, you know how to proceed."

Succession planner Richard Cressman makes some interesting points about what makes farm operators tick. Most often, it's not about the money, he says.

Money makes the farming business go round, Cressman says, but achieving a high return on investment is usually number four on a list of priorities that farmers cite when they are asked. Higher up the list are having a good place to raise their kids, working in the outdoors and being their own boss.

This month, American farm writer and Stateside columnist Alan Guebert describes how U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz explained bread prices to audiences in the high grain price years of the early 1970s. Editors noticed that some of what Guebert wrote about Butz's explanation didn't quite add up. Guebert replies: "You're right, it doesn't jibe. But then again, farmers - so in love with 'Early' - would roar....Earl's math could get lost sometimes. Remember, a federal judge sentenced him to 10 months in the pen for not reporting about $800,000 of speech income one year in the late 1980s." BF

Robert Irwin & Don Stoneman

Current Issue

June/July 2025

Better Farming Magazine

Farms.com Breaking News

Ontario farmers get boost for energy upgrades

Friday, July 11, 2025

The governments of Canada and Ontario are investing up to $3 million in the third round of the Agricultural Stewardship Initiative (ASI). This funding will help farmers improve the energy efficiency of their operations and support the long-term sustainability of the agriculture... Read this article online

Swede midge and cabbageworm found in Ontario canola

Thursday, July 10, 2025

As reported on the OMAFA website fieldcropnews.com, Ontario canola crops are at various growth stages, ranging from seedling to full bloom depending on planting time and region. Winter canola is now fully podded, and harvest is expected to begin soon in Essex and other southern... Read this article online

Ontario crops respond to summer heat

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

According to the OMAFA Field Crop News team, Ontario field crops are showing rapid development as summer-like temperatures have dominated late June early July. The warm spell has accelerated growth and helped reduce the heat unit deficit from a cool spring. Corn fields have seen a burst... Read this article online

BF logo

It's farming. And it's better.

 

a Farms.com Company

Subscriptions

Subscriber inquiries, change of address, or USA and international orders, please email: subscriptions@betterfarming.com or call 888-248-4893 x 281.


Article Ideas & Media Releases

Have a story idea or media release? If you want coverage of an ag issue, trend, or company news, please email us.

Follow us on Social Media

 

Sign up to a Farms.com Newsletter

 

DisclaimerPrivacy Policy2025 ©AgMedia Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Back To Top