Playing the House’s Money – Indicators that your farm is working for the bank

Think of the farm as a casino in Vegas. You have been sitting in the same cab for hours; you don’t know what time it is, the odds are always stacked against you, and the house never loses. And don’t forget about the credit marker you just…

What Do You Want? – The only four words that matter in farm succession

It has become clear that farm succession is not progressing. After decades of education, advisory, structures, and just about every strategy that has worked in every other industry, we are worse today than we were before. It's time to start…

The Rearview Mirror – Why bank ratios fail the modern-day family farm

“I think that every time you see the word EBITDA, you should substitute the words bullshit earnings” - Charlie Munger   The bank metrics are broken. There is no easier way of identifying this than through the words of the late…

It’s Not That Simple – The Lie That Keeps Agriculture in Complacency

“What’s the biggest lie you were ever told? It’s not that simple.” – Miles Teller as Vinny Pazienza, Bleed for This  Success is not that far away. We are constantly reminded of the hardships, limitations, and everything else standing…

The Unforgiven – When rain is too much of a good thing.

“To a farmer, the rain is a beautiful song until it starts repeating the same verse for three weeks straight” – Unknown author   It was Will Rogers who wrote, “The farmer has to be an optimist, or he wouldn’t still be a…

The Agrarian Portfolio – The Financial Re-Imagining of the Family Farm

“I needed no unusual knowledge or intelligence to conclude that the investment had no downside and potentially had substantial upside. There would be gales, yes, and birthdays would come and go. But what of it? There would be some exceptionally…

I Can Sleep Through a Storm – The Power of Preparation in Agriculture

Backstory: I can sleep through a storm is a classic parable. It comes from a story about a farmer who hires a young farmhand whose only qualification was that simple line, “I can sleep through a storm.” The farmer was initially annoyed…

All Sweat, No Equity – How stable land prices would have crushed the family farm

“Buy land, they’re not making it anymore” – Mark Twain For those of us that remember the first quarter of land we ever bought, we know that it was almost a religious experience. The one thing I can never take away from agriculture…

Pressure is a Privilege – Introspection in Agriculture

Changing Tides – Where Acres and Diversification Diverge

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” – Albert Einstein Farming without scale is unsustainable.  Primary producers, in their truest form, are no longer viable within the current environment.…

You Don’t Buy the Stock, You Buy the Business

I spend too much time on social media, but to be fair, without it, I wouldn’t come up with gems like this. On a podcast the other day, they were interviewing a young Warren Buffett. He made the comment that when he was younger, he bought…

Planning For the Payout – Has crop insurance crossed the line into subsidy?

As supply management continues to make headlines at the political level, provincial crop insurance quietly slips in what, I believe, is a comparable subsidy. With the MASC pricing release this week and the other provinces to follow shortly,…