Reading Time: 8 minutes Two years ago in June, Terry Aberhart got a call from an account manager at the land investment company that, at the time, was leasing him about 2,000 acres of his roughly 15,000-acre operation. “Hey, we’ve been having some unsolicited offers come in,” the voice on the line said. The account manager went on: “In […] Read more
Summer Series: The right farm team
[Land] It’s the Catch-22 of the decade. Either buy that ultra-expensive land or someone else will. How do you make that decision?
Summer Series: Bank on growth
[Better Advice] Ideas that performance-minded farmers can take to the bank
Reading Time: 5 minutes Even top-performing farmers need advice. In fact, when farmers fine-tune their operations to maximize yield and profitability, they can plan on needing more financial advice than ever before. This is for some very good reasons. Not only do risks grow with the scale and complexity of the operation, but so do the opportunities, and today’s […] Read more
Summer Series: Do sweat the details
[Best Advice] Accounting advice to get more competitive
Reading Time: 5 minutes When it comes to farm accounting, it’s increasingly about the details and it’s the farmers who notice them who come out on top. Here are the top four tips to get more competitive.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor Blair Sanderson sees it time and again. “The difference between a good producer and a great one,” […] Read more
Crop insurance considering coverage on intercrops
Intercrop trials continue at Saskatchewan’s South East Research Farm
Reading Time: 5 minutes At South East Research Farm in Redvers, Sask., research manager Lana Shaw is constantly cooking up new intercrop combinations. It’s a matter of great interest to the growing numbers of farmers who have adopted the practice. In 2019 there were about 70,000 intercropped acres documented by Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corporation (SCIC). In 2021, just 25,000 […] Read more
The new farmers
Is it possible for a non-farmer without big capital to become a farmer in today’s Canada? The Young Agrarians have an answer the entire industry is watching
Reading Time: 9 minutes Krystyna Delahaye didn’t always see herself as a farmer. Back in 2012, she wasn’t one. Originally from Quebec, Delahaye had simply moved to B.C. to work front of house in a restaurant and she met Jason Stashko, who was working as a cook in another restaurant. It’s a story similar in its way to the […] Read more
Free weed control? Tell me more!
A researcher says Canadians should follow the European lead in helping beneficial insects to chow down on weed seeds
Reading Time: 3 minutes Carabid beetles, also known as ground beetles, are routinely overlooked as an important weed control agent, says Christian Willenborg, associate professor and head of the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan. “In Western Canada, we don’t really have a feeling that carabids are making a dent in our weed seed populations, but […] Read more
Beyond N, P and K fertilizer
A Saskatchewan-developed system will give an overall score for soil health
Reading Time: 3 minutes What do soil-health testing systems have in common? Obvious answers aside, most weren’t developed in — or for — the Canadian Prairies. Two University of Saskatchewan researchers aim to change that with the first Saskatchewan-based soil health scoring framework. “Soil health is defined as the capacity of the soil to function,” says Qianyi (Athena) Wu, […] Read more
Finding the ‘new normal’ for mustard acreage
It’s tricky to grow, and you need acres that have been out of canola for three to five years
Reading Time: 4 minutes It was an example of how a combination of weather, geopolitical events and Prairie farmers’ rotation plans could make the headlines last spring — French supermarket shelves were devoid of mustard. French Dijon mustard must contain a certain percentage of French brown mustard seed to be considered a product of France. But France’s domestic production […] Read more
Heading off aster yellows in field crops
A new rapid test may help diagnose the disease in time to take action with fungicide
Reading Time: 4 minutes [UPDATED: Nov. 28, 2022] Aster yellows is a sneaky disease, arriving in canola via aster leafhoppers infected with the parasitic organism aster yellows phytoplasma (AYP). The leafhoppers spread the disease to plants as they feed, but the symptoms don’t show up until the crop is too far gone to treat. In bad years — which […] Read more
Regenerative agriculture demo starts a conversation
Farmers and customers meet to view intercrop combinations and to talk about a common definition of sustainability
Reading Time: 3 minutes On a sunny day in early August, farmers, industry members and researchers gathered at Avena Foods’ pulse and oat facility in Rowat, Sask., to talk about the benefits of regenerative agricultural practices. They toured experimental intercropping plots, visited varietal test plots and heard about innovations adopted by farmers in the area to boost sustainability on […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
