man filling a grain seeder

From field to ear: Addressing hearing loss on Canadian farms

Summer Series: Work related hearing loss is common on farms due to the many noisy machines and tools required to run the business. Luckily, there is plenty you can do to preserve your hearing for years to come.

Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers spend countless hours tending to their properties and animals, which, for all its benefits, can have a serious drawback: adult farmers are more likely to have hearing loss problems than non-farming adults. Years of noise due to heavy machinery, equipment and animals could lead to noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), causing permanent hearing damage. Noise-induced […] Read more




Reg Steward works with farmers and ranchers to help business owners build safety into their everyday processes.

Summer Series: Smarter training

[Change Management] Even the best employees are only as good as they know how

Reading Time: 6 minutes Training new and existing employees about the ever-changing tasks on the farm is essential if you hope to build and maintain a great farm team. But how much should you invest in training? Are you already there, or could your farm make big strides in its efficiency if you stepped up your training initiatives? Such […] Read more



wagon with hay bales pulled by tractor

See and be seen with farm equipment on public roads

Reading Time: 3 minutes Regardless of what we’re driving, our safety and that of others on public roads is a shared responsibility. Safety considerations are essential since our actions — or inactions — have consequences. For farm equipment operators, ensuring you can see and be seen is a primary safety consideration. The Manitoba government says recent studies have shown […] Read more


A smoke column rises from a wildfire on May 4, 2023 near Lodgepole, Alta., about 30 km southwest of Drayton Valley. (Photo: Alberta Wildfire handout via Reuters)

Alberta wildfire fighters prepare for hot, dry days ahead

Temperatures to approach 30 C next week

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — An extended period of hot, dry weather that risks worsening wildfires in Alberta began on Friday, with special weather alerts in place across Western Canada and officials urging people to be vigilant. More than 100 wildfires have ignited across Alberta since last week, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate homes, farms […] Read more

Smoke rises from a wildfire in Alberta’s Strathcona County, east of Edmonton, on May 5, 2023. (Photo: Video screengrab from @hellohildy on Twitter via Reuters)

Alberta fairs, auctions offer space for evacuated livestock

Central areas catch break with moisture, cooler weather; CN service resumes

Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta’s ag societies and livestock auction marts are offering up pen space for producers forced to evacuate animals away from dozens of wildfires in the province’s northern and west-central regions. As of early Thursday evening, the province was tracking 76 active wildfires, of which 22 were listed as “out of control” and 17 as “being […] Read more


“Gut wrenching,” says Krista Harris, (l), of the farm accidents she’s been called to. Now, she and Van-Martin focus on making their own farm safe.

Making the farm less dangerous, step by step

Check out what these two farms did after they decided the old approach to safety on the farm is too weak, and sticking with it only makes it worse

Reading Time: 10 minutes For most of us, the sight of just one accident is all it takes to get us taking more reasonable precautions. So, imagine you are Krista Harris and you have seen what she has seen. As a career firefighter with over 20 years service with the Abbotsford Fire Department, Harris has attended innumerable motor vehicle […] Read more

File photo of a John Deere X9 combine. (Deere.ca)

American Farm Bureau, Deere sign ‘right to repair’ memo

MOU to seek private-sector solutions

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — The American Farm Bureau Federation and machinery manufacturer Deere and Co. signed a memorandum of understanding on Sunday that ensures farmers have the right to repair their own farm equipment or go to an independent technician. As the agriculture sector accelerates its adoption of technology, the reliance on high-tech machinery such […] Read more