Reading Time: 4 minutes Donna heard a knock at the door and frenzied shouting. “Are you home? Can we come in?” Donna’s daughter-in-law Elaine was carrying her toddler under her arm. The little boy looked happy to see his grandma, but Elaine was red-faced and frantic. “That chimney! We’ll get rabies! In our own home.” Donna had never seen […] Read more
The unexpected house guest
The unexpected house guest
Reading Time: 4 minutes Donna heard a knock at the door and frenzied shouting. “Are you home? Can we come in?” Donna’s daughter-in-law Elaine was carrying her toddler under her arm. The little boy looked happy to see his grandma, but Elaine was red-faced and frantic. “That chimney! We’ll get rabies! In our own home.” Donna had never seen […] Read more
Carry the load
Reading Time: 4 minutes When Elaine stepped inside the Hanson Acres cleaning plant she found three generations of Hanson men all focused on the same thing. Her father-in-law Dale was balancing at the top of a six-foot ladder, trying to hold on to one end of an eight-foot iron shaft as he pulled it out of the fanning mill. […] Read more
In for the long haul
Reading Time: 4 minutes Cousin Allison’s wedding dance had reached the point where the women were discoing to Village People songs, small kids were roaming the hotel ballroom like a pack of wolves, and Allison’s father had cut off the flow of free liquor. “I got to the bartender just in time,” said Dale Hanson’s nephew Mark, almost spilling […] Read more
Seed capital seen growing for FNA fertilizer project
Reading Time: 3 minutes Midway through a 50-stop information blitz with 18 meetings across the Prairies in seven days, Farmers of North America (FNA) appears to see a strong show of support for its new project. The Saskatoon-based ag input buying group reports its farmer members have already bought more than 1,600 "seed capital units" — $1,000 investments in […] Read more
Minogue: Impacts from AgriStability reform may be major
Reading Time: 6 minutes Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) on Sept. 14 announced changes to Canada’s farm programs for 2013. While several details have yet to be nailed down or announced, it is clear that these changes will mean a less lucrative program for Canadian farmers. For the past few months, farmers have been aware of the federal government’s […] Read more
Minogue: Crops research focused on Prairie competitiveness
Reading Time: 2 minutes Researchers are co-operating to create a brighter future for Prairie agriculture. Agronomists and scientists from Saskatchewan Agriculture, the Wheatland Conservation Area, the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation (IHARF), the Canola Council of Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s (AAFC’s) Semi-Arid Prairie Agricultural Research Centre (SPARC) came together here July 12 to showcase their in-field research […] Read more
Agrium sees gains for farmers in retail expansion
Reading Time: 2 minutes With Agrium’s Crop Protection Services (CPS) arm poised to take over 232 of Viterra’s Agri-Products centres, many farmers have concerns about future competition and pricing in the farm input market. Kevin Helash, CPS’s regional manager for Canada and the Pacific Northwest, sees only upside. Glencore’s planned takeover of Viterra, as announced in March, includes an […] Read more
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
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 moreA message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
