Farmers Advised to Think Long Term on Land Prices

St. Jean Baptiste recently hosted a Farm Days presentation from Dan Caron, a farm profitability expert. During his presentation, Caron advised farmers to “adopt a long-term view” when deciding whether or not to purchase new crop land.

“We have to start making decisions based on longer-term averages, not looking at the year before,” said Caron, according to a recent article in the Western Producer. “What happens if we look to the year before? Well, we end up with $4,000 per acre land and $9 canola.”

Caron went on to explain that land debt and related payments need to be assessed with an eye on long-term sustainability, and not just on what last year’s prices could command at market. Read More

10 Life Lessons for Those in Their 30s

Mark Manson is an entrepreneur, author, and “life enthusiast” who blogs frequently about business.

In a recent post, he crowd sourced advice from those 37 years old and up on what they would tell their 30 year old self, based on the experience and knowledge they gained during their own 30s.

Over 600 readers responded, and out of their answers, he put together a post titled “10 Life Lessons to Excel in Your 30s.”

While Manson provides detailed explanation, complete with quotes from his readers’ responses, the list breaks down to the following 10 points:

1. Start saving for retirement now, not later.
2. Start taking care of your health now, not later.
3. Don’t spend time with people who don’t treat you well.
4. Be good to the people you care about.
5. You can’t have everything: focus on doing a few things well.
6. Don’t be afraid of taking risks.
7. Continue to grow and develop your self.
8. Nobody (still) knows what they’re doing.
9. Invest in your family.
10. Be yourself, respect yourself.

Not a bad list. What do you think of this advice? What would you add, if you were giving advice to your own 30 year old self?

Good news for Manitoba’s Hemp Industry

Good news for our hemp producers here in Manitoba. Hemp Oil Canada is planning to build a $13.6 million hemp seed processing plant, the world’s largest, in Ste Agathe, south of Winnipeg.

“This will boost us to well over nine million lb., once we enter the facility,” Hemp Oil Canada President Shaun Crew is quoted in the Western Producer as telling a news conference. “Within the facility there is still room for more equipment, so growth is inevitable.”

“The industry is maturing … hemp food ingredients are being utilized in all kinds of food products now, everything from hemp cereal, hemp ice cream to hemp nutrition bars,” said Crew, who wore a pair of hemp pants and hemp shoes to the news conference.

“In the last 10 years, we’ve had double digit growth every year. In the last two or three, that growth has been at least 50 percent per annum.”

Canadian hemp producers, many of them right here in Manitoba and in the Parkland itself, planted 90,000 acres of hemp this year. That’s up from 70,000 acres in 2013.

Productivity Tips

If you run your own business, you know that sometimes it can be difficult to keep productivity high throughout the week.

Luckily, Thomas Oppong and the Globe & Mail offered an article this week offering 5 tips as to how you can improve your productivity.

In short, here’s what Oppong suggests to get your week going:

1. Stop planning, start doing.
2. You don’t have to say “yes” to every request.
3. Don’t be a perfectionist.
4. Get everything out of your head.
5. Review and measure your accomplishments.

Check out the full article here for some more details on each step. Then, try it out next week and let us know in the comments if the tips were helpful.

The Importance of a Business Plan

If you’re an entrepreneur, chances are you have a solid business plan in writing, right?

Well, maybe not. In a recent post for Alberta Venture, columnist Mazena Czarnecka explains that many successful businesses lack a basic business plan in writing.

She then goes on to explain how writing your business plan is important, even if you have been successful without one. Read More