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FARM TRANSITION: Free estate and will-planning tool now available online to producers

OTTAWA — Advance planning of wills and estates is crucial to farm transition, but a topic too often avoided. Now there’s a free online tool from Farm Credit Canada to make the process easier.

“Often the second generation is waiting for their parents to say, “Hey, we need to talk about where the farm is going,” but the kids don’t know how to start the conversation and the parents are afraid of the conversation, and then if someone dies, it’s a mess,” says Dr. Tom Deans, creator of the “Willing Wisdom” index that FCC adapted for the new tool.

The process only takes an estimated 8 to 10 minutes. The farmer goes through an online checklist and receives recommendations that can spur an important family discussion.

“Many people in the agriculture industry tell us that will and estate planning is an overwhelming task and so it’s common for producers to avoid it,” FCC advisory services manager Greg Thomarat said. “This tool complements the FCC’s Advisory Services who are already helping Canadian farmers begin these conversations.”

Access the tool at WillingWisdom.com/FCC.

Source : Farmersforum

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No-Till vs Tillage: Why Neighboring Fields Are World Apart

Video: No-Till vs Tillage: Why Neighboring Fields Are World Apart

“No-till means no yield.”

“No-till soils get too hard.”

But here’s the real story — straight from two fields, same soil, same region, totally different outcomes.

Ray Archuleta of Kiss the Ground and Common Ground Film lays it out simply:

Tillage is intrusive.

No-till can compact — but only when it’s missing living roots.

Cover crops are the difference-maker.

In one field:

No-till + covers ? dark soil, aggregates, biology, higher organic matter, fewer weeds.

In the other:

Heavy tillage + no covers ? starving soil, low diversity, more weeds, fragile structure.

The truth about compaction?

Living plants fix it.

Living roots leak carbon, build aggregates, feed microbes, and rebuild structure — something steel never can.

Ready to go deeper into the research behind no-till yields, rotations, and profitability?