Trouble comes to the farm

Reading Time: 4 minutes Everything was ready to go. With another week or so of warm weather, the Hansons would be ready to start putting seed in the ground. They planned to seed as much of their 6,000 acres as they could get on to — anything that wasn’t still too wet after last year’s flood. The machinery had […] Read more

A farmer’s hierarchy of needs

Reading Time: 3 minutes In the same way that spring produces the first gin and tonic moments on the veranda and frog songs that waft up from the marsh in the evening, it also produces two famous lists on the fridge: those things which must be done and another that fantasizes what might be done if we had the […] Read more


Here’s why 2012 will be different

Reading Time: 2 minutes 2008 revolutionized our expectations for commodity prices but it didn’t put an end to sleepless nights on the farm. 2012 will see farmers taking more control. Here are three of the ways they’ll do it. 1. Roughly one-third of our farms have no successors. On another third, there’s a chance that the children might want […] Read more

Machinery Guide, January 2012

For most of us, it’s this simple. If you plant crops, you spray crops. Getting herbicides and crop protectants down 
uniformly and on time is essential. There’s no other word for it. Still, it doesn’t have to mean a self-propelled sprayer. Today’s new generation of pull-type sprayers provide an unbeatable blend of cost and performance for many farms. You also get myriad choices, including these.

Reading Time: 3 minutes MS Gregson N1000 and N1250 Sprayers  MS Gregson Novation sprayers come in N1000-gallon and N1250-gallon models, with a Novation design that is targeted toward operators who want a simple, clean sprayer with a rate controller and 60- to 90-foot booms. Gregson representative Lyle McLean says the Novation sprayer is the very first pull-type sprayer […] Read more


The vision thing

No one seemed to need one before, but now they say a vision statement can be good for the farm. Dale isn’t sure. Even Donna isn’t convinced, but the kids are already talking...

Reading Time: 4 minutes It was only mid-morning when Jeff and Elaine walked across the farmyard to his parents’ house, but his Mom and Dad already looked exhausted. “We thought you’d never get here,” his dad Dale said with an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Sorry,” Elaine said, setting her laptop down in the kitchen. “We thought about picking him […] Read more

Reflections, January 2012

Reading Time: 2 minutes Bert Gillis loved to fly but never earned his pilot’s licence. For most of his life he farmed north of Wynyard, Sask. in partnership with his two brothers and sister-in-law. During the Second World War he was a mechanic in the Air Force. His job was to repair training planes at the air base in […] Read more


The gleaner

Reading Time: 3 minutes Many years ago, my wife picked up a cast-iron, hand-cranked corn sheller at an auction, just about the same time Bob Pargeter passed over his cornfield next door with his new combine. I noticed there were all sorts of intact corncobs lying on the ground at the corners of the fields where the machine turned […] Read more

The Lean Startup

Reading Time: 3 minutes How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to CreateRadically Successful Businesses You can tell that Eric Ries has a lot of experience as an entrepreneur when he sums up his two decades in business by saying, “Our productive capacity greatly exceeds our ability to know what to build.” You can also tell that his will be […] Read more


Case International Maxxum Series

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Case International Maxxum series brings eight models from 90 to 120 horsepower. According to the company, these four-and six-cylinder models are powerful, versatile and economical, and offer more flexibility, maneuverability and comfort to meet the needs of today s operators. The Maxxum 110, 115 and 125 models feature mechanical engines with minimal electronics for […] Read more

KUBOTA M SERIES

Reading Time: < 1 minute Kubota s M Series brings four models topped out by the M135X, Kubota s most powerful M-Series tractor with a 374-cubic-inch, turbocharged direct injection diesel engine that generates 118 PTO horsepower. According to Kubota s Christian Bisson, the M-Series tractors feature added power, torque and an electronic common rail fuel system for more power, less […] Read more