Reading Time: < 1 minute Qualifying farmers in British Columbia are now able to buy telehandlers, skid steers and polycarbonate greenhouse panels for farm use without paying the province’s seven per cent sales tax. The province on Thursday announced the additions, effective Feb. 17, to its list of goods, equipment and services for which eligible farmers are PST-exempt. Farmers wanting […] Read more
B.C. pulls PST for farm telehandlers, skid steers
Debate: Sask. ag leaders seek rail response
Reading Time: 2 minutes If there’s one thing all Saskatchewan’s political parties can agree on, it’s that the current rail system isn’t working for grain producers — but there’s less consensus on the solutions. Transportation is the single most important issue facing grain growers in Saskatchewan right now, said Cathy Sproule, the provincial New Democrats’ ag critic, during an […] Read more
Debate: Sask. farmers aim to bridge digital gap
Reading Time: 2 minutes Infrastructure has always been top of mind for many rural Saskatchewan residents — but rural infrastructure needs in 2016 can’t all be met with gravel, graders and culverts. With a provincial election around the corner, improving digital and cellular service was a focal point in an ag leaders’ debate held in Saskatoon Tuesday. The Why […] Read more
ADM suing CP over 2013-14 rail service disruptions
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– Archer Daniels Midland has filed a lawsuit against Canadian Pacific Railway over service disruptions in 2013 and 2014 at crop-processing plants in North Dakota and Minnesota, alleging they stemmed partly from cost-cutting and the Canadian railroad’s pursuit of merger partners. Chicago-based ADM, one of the world’s largest grain traders and processors, […] Read more
Diesel prices seen staying lower
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada –– Diesel prices in Canada are expected to stay relatively cheap this spring despite some recent strength in the crude oil market. In a normal cycle, diesel prices would usually be on the move right now, but they have been mired at their current level for the last few months, according to Tom […] Read more
Budget to boost ag research infrastructure, rural broadband
Reading Time: 3 minutes Funds to fix up Canada’s agricultural research stations and food safety labs and a new program to boost rural broadband coverage are among the nuggets for the farming sector in Tuesday’s federal budget. Overall, the Liberals’ first budget is based on $287.7 billion in revenues for 2016-17, against $291.4 billion in program expenses and $25.7 […] Read more
ElectricPOWER your farm implements?
These 700-volt systems may be the kickstart the industry needs
Reading Time: 3 minutes For a group of young boys standing around the Fendt display at the Agritechnica machinery expo in Hanover, Germany, earlier this winter, the prototype model Former 12555X electric hay rake on show was a little like a video game. By sliding a finger across a screen, they could use the touch pad computer on the […] Read more
Six numbers in agriculture to make you stop and think
It isn’t as quiet as you might think on the home front. Yes, today’s farms seem stable, but the next evolutionary wave is gaining energy
In 2009, total Canadian net farm income was $2.8 billion. Four years later, it was $10 billion more, with Statistics Canada’s saying a $5.6-billion rise in the total value of farm-owned inventories from the year before accounted for almost all of the increase in total net income in 2013 That inventory increase came from a[...]
Read more
Read more
Farm machinery gets political
AGCO chief Martin Richenhagen fields unusual questions at a corporate press conference in Germany
Reading Time: 6 minutes Suddenly the discussion became political, turning AGCO’s Fendt-brand press conference during last November’s Agritechnica machinery show in Hanover, Germany, into one of the most unique I can remember attending. Standing on stage with a German journalist who was acting as event host, AGCO CEO and president Martin Richenhagen eventually found himself talking about larger political[...]
Read more
Read more
Farm groups rail against revenue cap proposal
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada –– A key proposal in the recently released Canada Transportation Act review on Canada’s transport systems is getting thumbs down from several Prairie farm groups. The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS) disagrees with the report’s recommendation for a seven-year phase-out of the maximum revenue entitlement (MRE), an annual upper limit on the[...]
Read more
Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
