Reading Time: 3 minutes Combine manufacturers have made giant strides toward machine automation. Yes, there still needs to be an operator in the cab (and we’re likely some distance away from changing that), but a growing number of today’s combines are making their own decisions about how to adjust their operations on the go for maximum threshing efficiency and […] Read more
Dawn of the ‘smart’ combine
Automated and self-adjusting threshing systems become the norm
Larger elevators, smaller rail cars seen in grain’s future
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | CNS Canada –– Heading into the future, elevators will be more efficient and trains will carry more grain, according to industry professionals at the Grain World conference in Winnipeg. “I think there’s a real shift happening from low efficiency to the higher-efficiency facilities,” Karl Gerrand, CEO of G3, said Wednesday during the What […] Read more
How to rebuild a transmission, Part 2
Last time around we began a repair on an older, typical three-speed transmission, the kind you’d find in a classic farm pickup truck. While all three-speed transmissions of that era have their own unique components, their overall designs are very similar. This rebuild is typical of what would be necessary on any similar three-speed. Even[...]
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Court ruling for Deere colours hinges on ‘confusion’
Reading Time: 4 minutes A court ruling strengthening Deere and Co.’s claim to the use of green and yellow on farm equipment in the U.S. centres on how likely farmers are to believe they’re looking at a Deere or Deere-approved product. In a 107-page ruling in October, following a five-day trial in June, the U.S. District Court at Paducah,[...]
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CP conductors, engineers reject short-term deal
Reading Time: < 1 minute Unionized conductors and engineers at Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have voted down a proposed one-year renewal of their collective agreement. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, whose train and engine (T+E) unit represents about 3,050 Canadian conductors and engineers at CP, announced Wednesday its membership had voted 67.1 per cent against the extension. Negotiators with CP[...]
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Short-liners get aggressive
We sit down with Leah Olson, president of Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada, to take the pulse of today’s Canadian short-line equipment manufacturers
Reading Time: 5 minutes In past years, as the calendar began leading up to summer, my email inbox would fill with press releases from short-line ag equipment manufacturers hungry to show off their their new models and boost sales. This year, however, was quiet. There just weren’t as many announcements as I’d come to expect. Yes, there have been[...]
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Seed Hawk to take parent firm’s name
Reading Time: < 1 minute For Saskatchewan seeding, planting and tillage equipment maker Seed Hawk, the company name is changing but the brand remains the same. Seed Hawk, which has been 100 per cent owned by Swedish equipment manufacturer Vaderstad since 2013, has been renamed Vaderstad Industries effective Tuesday. The two companies said the name change “reflects the fuller integration[...]
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Grain handle helps lift CN quarterly revenue
Reading Time: < 1 minute An increase in Canadian grain traffic helped support Canadian National Railway’s third-quarter revenues, though the costs of increased traffic ate at its bottom line. Montreal-based CN on Tuesday reported net income of $958 million on total revenues of $3.221 billion for the quarter ending Sept. 30, down from $972 million on $3.014 billion in the[...]
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Farm fuel to be exempt from Manitoba carbon tax
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farm fuel will be exempt from a carbon tax, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said in an interview Thursday on the eve of announcing his government’s Made-in-Manitoba Climate and Green Plan. “It does exempt some farm costs — farm fuel, for example,” he said. “I know we’ll get pushback from some industry groups that are not[...]
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Climate FieldView data system ready for Prairies
Reading Time: 2 minutes In beta testing in the region for much of this year, the Climate FieldView crop data system from Monsanto’s Climate Corp. has gone live on the Prairies. The Climate Corp. announced Wednesday the Climate FieldView platform is available for purchase in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta on a per-acre basis, allowing farmers to start using it[...]
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