Organic farming was a relatively low-cost way for the Hoffords to get on their feet in the beginning stages, and they also saw it as a lower-risk enterprise.

Summer Series: Manitoba couple reinvents their farm

[Change Management] What does it take to survive when you run into a production problem so serious it threatens your whole farm? The Hoffords were about to find out

Reading Time: 11 minutes At first, going organic seemed the perfect choice for Ryan and Amy Hofford, a young couple intent on taking over the family farm after the early passing of Ryan’s father. Organic had everything going for it. The young couple could cash-flow its low-input approach, they’d excel at its hands-on marketing and they’d be on a […] Read more




CF Industries is one of the world’s biggest nitrogen fertilizer producers and competes against Russian imports.  Photo: Thinkstock

U.S. fertilizer imports helping fund Russian war effort, CF Industries says

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters – U.S. agriculture companies have been brisk importers of Russian fertilizer since the 2022 Ukraine invasion, a practice that is unwittingly helping fund Russia’s war against Ukraine, U.S. producer CF Industries CF.N said on Thursday. The U.S. does not impose sanctions directly on Russian fertilizer, which is important to global food supplies and prices. […] Read more



Variable rate fertilizer being applied during seeding at Steckler Farm in Alberta in 2022.  Photo: Courtesy Olds College of Agriculture and Technology

Canada pledges funds for efficient fertilizer research

Joining the Efficient Fertilizer Consortium gives Canada chance to influence research strategies, feds say

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canada will join the U.S., U.K., and others in a group dedicated to advancing efficient and novel fertilizers, the federal government announced today. 


(Dave Bedard photo)

FCC announces new 4R incentive

The program is open to FCC customers who use AgExpert platform

Reading Time: < 1 minute FCC announced the new Sustainability Incentive Program at the Western Canadian Crop Production Show in Saskatoon. The program is open to FCC customers who put a 4R nutrient management plan in place, record production activities through AgExpert Field, and have their 4R practices verified by a 4R designated agronomist.




“What we will be in three, four, five years will be unrecognizable,” says APH’s Nelson Gibson.

If you really want it

Can Canada’s farmers launch better business ventures by following Nelson Gibson’s lead at APH?

Reading Time: 6 minutes Two minutes into the conversation, you begin to see the parallels between Nelson Gibson’s job and the job that more Canadian farmers see ahead for themselves. On the farm, that job is ahead partly because of how the land market is curtailing farm expansion plans, and partly too because of the new levels of equity […] Read more