The Reluctance To Touch Principal: Why Dividend Investors Think Like Farmers

Two months back, Jarislowsky Fraser Ltd., one of the country’s best known money managers bade farewell to two of its longest serving senior staffers: Len Racioppo, who was president of the executive committee and chair of the investment strategy committee and Marc Trottier, a vice-president and fellow member of the executive committee. After those departures, the two have formed Coerente Capital Management which is offering segregated investment management to high net worth individuals and foundations.

In the realm of American food fads, organic is out –– local is in. As a result, community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs are becoming the hottest new trend in healthful eating, with more than 12,500 farms doling out fresh produce to neighborhoods around the country.

By Bill Gunderson:A farmer's duties and responsibilities require the wearing of many hats and the tasks vary according to the type of operation. A farmer who raises crops is busy preparing the land in April and May for planting, and then caring for the crops until harvest time in the fall.Some farmers sell their own crops at the market, while others have contracts with processing companies or other organizations. Both require a certain amount of business savvy and management skills.

Doug Whiteman is a subarctic potato farmer who battles permafrost year-round, lives about 140 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, and over the past seven years has gone from coaxing 300 pounds to 30,000 pounds of potatoes out of his stubborn land.

Farmers plant their seeds in spring to harvest their crops in the fall. The shareholder activist typically does just the opposite - harvests take place during proxy season each spring, but the seeds of these profit-making campaigns are planted in the fall.

Whether food giant Monsanto's practice of patenting crop seeds is legal when farmers have little opportunity to find alternatives may finally get a review from the Supreme Court this year. It has agreed to hear a case in which a farmer planting Monsanto seeds without paying.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Whether food giant Monsanto's practice of patenting crop seeds is legal when farmers have little opportunity to find alternatives may finally get a review from the Supreme Court this year. It has agreed to hear a case in which a farmer planting Monsanto seeds without paying.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us