Reading Time: 5 minutes For years farmers have questioned and complained about the rebate and reward programs offered on agricultural inputs. Most complaints focus on the complexity of the programs and the inability for farmers to calculate the value of the rebate when making pesticide purchase decisions. Farmers need to know the after-rebate cost of pesticides if they are […] Read more
Rebates: The ‘gift’ that has gone too far
Are retailers focused on selling the best product to meet a grower’s needs, or the product that will maximize their own business returns?
Driving up the cost of seed
Is the new Seeds Canada getting foisted on farmers just to make us boost seed company profits?
Reading Time: 6 minutes The summer of 2020 will go down in history for changing the fundamentals of grain production in Canada. And it seems many farmers are not even aware this is happening. I am talking about the ratification of Seeds Canada. I hear you ask, “Who, or what, is Seeds Canada?” Seeds Canada is the proposed name […] Read more
Rural crime: There’s an app for that
Rural crime rates are going up because criminals think they won’t get caught. We’ve got to change that, and this app may help
Reading Time: 9 minutes As I was writing this article, I learned through a Twitter post that a neighbouring farm five km away had experienced a break and enter of their farm shop. The Twitter post encouraged people in the community to check their shops to see if anyone else had been victimized. Unfortunately, I did not see the […] Read more
Who’s getting educated?
It’s time for ag suppliers to get as good as farmers at technology, and to treat us with the respect we have earned
Reading Time: 6 minutes Technology and big data have changed nearly every facet of agriculture. My tractor performance is continually monitored, not only by the operator but by the manufacturer. If the operator slips the clutch or stalls the tractor while under load, I can expect an immediate notification on my cell phone. If it’s anything more serious, a […] Read more
The carbon tax and how farmers can truly mitigate climate change
Take a deep breath. The real numbers don’t come close to justifying the anger of groups like APAS
Reading Time: 7 minutes “If the treatment doesn’t kill you, the disease will!” I can’t remember when I first heard this saying, or who said it but given the recent carbon tax costing by the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS), it seems an apt analogy. First, some background. In 2017, APAS hosted the Prairie Agricultural Carbon Summit, where […] Read more
Watch what you say
Before you hit send, have you considered the legal consequences?
Reading Time: 7 minutes In March of 2018, Randy Winchester and his daughter Emily, producers of Highland cattle at Wellsville, Kansas, attended the annual meeting of the Heartland Highland Cattle Association (HHCA) in Branson, Missouri. Attendees at the meeting were able to visit Bigfoot on the Strip, a nearby theme park, and take the “Bigfoot Safari Tour.” Following their […] Read more
Ag leaders for tomorrow
It will take innovative thinking to solve our global ag and food problems. Think it can’t be done? Read on
Reading Time: 9 minutes How do we feed a hungry world? That was the question posed to 100 young people, 18 to 25 years old, from 45 countries when Bayer CropScience brought them together in Brasilia, Brazil, for the 4th biannual Youth Ag Summit in November. It is a critical question. Amid all the numbers a farmer sees every […] Read more
Why do you farm?
Whether it's passion or purpose, your answer is growing more important than anyone thought
Reading Time: 7 minutes Go to any school graduation and you can expect to hear the graduates being told to follow their dreams and find their passion, and that if they find a job they love, they’ll never have to work a day in their lives. It’s a popular message. A recent survey at Columbia Business School found 90 […] Read more
Reaching fair rents for farmland
There are at least eight ways to negotiate land rental rates. But is there a right way?
Reading Time: 6 minutes Back-to-back years of ugly weather mean many farmers will be re-thinking rents this December, especially farmers who still have crop out in the field or who have experienced yield or quality losses, or who’ve been hit with increased harvest and drying costs. If a land lease is up for renewal next year, they’ll be asking […] Read more
How farmers can adapt to the new weather abnormal
The stable weather patterns of the ’80s and ’90s are gone, so we ask three climate scientists how to farm when the weather is unreliable
Reading Time: 6 minutes For many western Canadian farmers this is the fourth consecutive year with harvest progress seriously stymied by weather issues. Fall rains and snows have resulted in significant loss of crop quality and/or an increased reliance on costly drying of crops in each of those years. For some farmers, inclement weather has even resulted in crops […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
