Country Guide: Summer Series: Business on the ground

With these land prices, can young farmers hope to ever write a sensible business plan? Maybe, but it’ll take innovative thinking.

It’s a daunting mix for young farmers. Land prices are soaring, production costs are climbing, interest rates are uncertain. And that’s not to mention the mix of international politics, market volatility and weather woes that are breeding black swans at historic rates.

With 2024 almost here, it’s hard to be any age. But how would you like to be young and at college or university, trying to prepare for the smart choices it’s going to take if the farm is ever going to survive.

Seriously, what will it take to succeed in farming until 2060?

Riley Buchanan is a sixth-generation beginning farmer on the family farm a half hour north of Winnipeg that he returned to after graduating with a University of Manitoba ag diploma this past spring. Now his aim is to keep clear-eyed.

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