Reading Time: 2 minutes Kubota’s highest-horsepower tractors yet for the North American farm market are going to be made in Canada. Winnipeg manufacturer Buhler Industries, the maker of Versatile tractors, on Thursday announced a “long-term” original equipment manufacturer (OEM) deal with Japan’s Kubota Corp. to “develop and produce a new tractor platform in the mid-range front-wheel assist segment.” For […] Read more
Buhler to build bigger Kubota tractors in Winnipeg
Customizing the planter
New models stretch planter capability and flexibility
Reading Time: 3 minutes Planters have long been at the centre of precision farming technology, and an ever-growing list of component options these days continues to improve their efficiency. With so many options now to choose from, more and more farmers are looking to customize their purchase to exactly meet the needs on their particular farm. Now, AGCO is […] Read more
Alberta input retail chain expands westward reach
Reading Time: < 1 minute A pair of independent crop input retail outlets in west-central Alberta will be networking with seven others by month-end. Crop Management Network (CMN), a joint venture between an employee-owned network of retail outlets and La Coop federee’s Agrico Canada arm, announced Wednesday it has reached a deal to buy Performance Ag Group. Performance Ag, which […] Read more
CNH begins 3D-printing spare parts
Reading Time: 2 minutes In a twist on the idea of ordering parts online, the parent firm for New Holland and Case IH is trying out the use of 3D printing to make plastic — and eventually metal — spare parts. British-based equipment manufacturing giant CNH Industrial said Monday it has already produced its first 3D-printed spare parts, making […] Read more
Railways to appeal federal order on train braking
Reading Time: 2 minutes A ministerial order requiring railways to apply handbrakes on trains stopped on mountain grades is the subject of an appeal by Canada’s big two railways. Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) said Friday it will appeal the Feb. 8 order, which federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau issued following the Feb. 4 fatal crash of a grain train […] Read more
Brand loyalty cuts deeper
Farmers tell manufacturers how and why they buy new equipment
Reading Time: 5 minutes When a few hundred staff and executives from the Canadian equipment brands that belong to AMC, the Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada, gathered for their 48th annual convention in Winnipeg in December, they used the opportunity to find out a bit more about their customers. AMC organizers had invited producers from different segments of the farming […] Read more
FCC offers up new Starter Loans
Reading Time: 2 minutes “Preferential” loan rates are available to young farmers or agribusinesspeople planning start-ups through a new Farm Credit Canada lending program. Lawrence MacAulay, addressing the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s annual meeting Wednesday in Ottawa when he was still federal minister of agriculture, unveiled the federal ag lending agency’s new Starter Loan Program. The program, according to […] Read more
Kubota updates its flagship M7 tractor line
The M7-2 series brings new technology and introduces the Deluxe model
Reading Time: 2 minutes It was a poorly kept secret in 2018 that Kubota was about to introduce an updated version of its most powerful tractor, the M7 Series, into North America. In fact, the brand showed a newer M7-2 at the Agritechnica machinery show in Germany in 2017. Now, however, the updated tractor line has finally arrived on […] Read more
Baltic Dry Index near 2-1/2-year lows
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) has dropped sharply over the past two months, as declining global demand for commodities — especially from China — weighed on the economic indicator. The BDI, compiled daily by the London-based Baltic Exchange, provides an assessment of the price of moving major raw materials by sea, including grain. The BDI […] Read more
The ‘right’ solution
Manufacturers and dealers make their case in the divisive “right-to-repair” debate
Reading Time: 6 minutes Here at Country Guide we’ve discussed the so-called “right to repair” machinery debate, most recently when a joint press release from a major dealer association and AEM, the association that represents most North American ag equipment manufacturers, announced concessions to allow for more access to the “brain” of machines to facilitate repairs. Our previous discussion […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
