Developed and delivered in collaboration with Farm Credit Canada and RBC, the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) at the University of Guelph offers Foundations in Agricultural Management. The free online course is aimed at Canadian farmers, their families and ag industry professionals who wish to improve their business acumen, financial literacy and management skills. The non-credit, video seminar course is comprised of eight modules that take an average of 15 to 20 minutes each to work through. Compatible with busy farm lifestyles, to earn a certificate of completion, participants can finish the course at their own pace.

The annual growth rate of Canadian agricultural productivity stood at or near two per cent from 1991 to 2010, according to a Farm Credit Canada (FCC) report released in December 2023. Since 2011, productivity growth has slowed and stands at just one per cent where it is projected to remain for the rest of this decade.

According to research from Farm Management Canada (FMC), less than one in four Canadian farmers have a written farm business plan. Such a document serves as a decision-making roadmap. While it can be used to manage and mitigate risk, it also sets a course to achieve goals.

Too often, the testing and development of ag products and systems is carried out in bite-sized plots, which leaves farmers to imagine how the results can be put into practice at their farm. The brainchild of Enterprise Machine Intelligence and Learning Initiative (EMILI) and Farm Credit Canada (FCC), Innovation Farms Powered by AgExpert provides clarity.