Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — La Nina conditions are likely to continue during the Northern Hemisphere spring, a U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday. The La Niña weather pattern, characterized by unusually cold temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, has a 67 per cent chance of persisting from March through May this year, the National Weather Service’s […] Read more
La Niña likely to continue into spring, U.S. forecaster says
A Canadian woman’s experience in ag
On the farm and in her boardrooms, here’s Amy Vanderheide’s story
Reading Time: 3 minutes Amy VanderHeide had great role models growing up. She was raised on a beef farm that was run entirely by women after her grandfather passed away in 1986. With her grandmother and aunts continuing to operate the farm throughout her childhood, she wasn’t aware of the barriers that existed for women in agriculture. “I didn’t […] Read more
Yara to stop buying potash from Belarus due to sanctions
Fertilizer firm buys 10-15 per cent of country's potash output
Reading Time: 2 minutes Oslo | Reuters — Norwegian fertilizer maker Yara said on Monday it will wind down purchases of potash from Belarus by April 1 as international sanctions made it impossible to continue the trade. Yara estimates that it buys 10-15 per cent of the annual output of state-owned Belaruskali, one of the world’s largest producers of […] Read more
La Niña introduces itself with Prairie cold snap
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — The frigid conditions which had enveloped the Prairie provinces in recent weeks is a sign La Niña has come again, according to a Kansas-based meteorologist. Since mid-December, the Prairies have been in a deep freeze beginning with temperatures at least 10 C below-normal. Since the holiday season, many towns and cities in the […] Read more
Rock solid: Can anything tame farmland prices?
Drought didn’t do it. Nor has the threat of rising interest rates
Reading Time: 7 minutes Land is in an investment category almost all by itself, says Steve Duff, Ontario’s chief ag economist. “Outside of GICs, there aren’t a whole lot of assets in today’s market that don’t have some downside risk.” It’s little wonder that other market watchers agree. Canada’s farmland prices increased by double-digit percentages every year from 2011 […] Read more
Colder-than-normal Prairie winter forecast
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Colder-than-normal temperatures are in the long-range forecast across Western Canada over the next three months, while much of Eastern Canada should be warmer. The latest seasonal forecast from Environment Canada, released Friday, calls for a 50 to 90 per cent chance of below-normal temperatures from January through March for the four western provinces. […] Read more
Different goals for women in ag
It turns out diversity, equity and inclusion in agriculture are things we can do something about, as this case study proves
Reading Time: 8 minutes Statistics show that women in agriculture face barriers and are under-represented in the industry. But if you are female AND you weren’t born in Canada AND you didn’t grow up on a farm, imagine how high the barriers are then. But that may be beginning to change. Entrepreneur Laura Lazo, who also serves as chair […] Read more
Record amount of grain moved, CN goes over revenue limit
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) recently ruled that Canadian National Railway exceeded its maximum grain revenue entitlements for the 2020/21 crop year. Meanwhile, the CTA stated that Canadian Pacific was under its entitlement. The CTA’s report stated that CN’s revenue from transporting Western Canadian grain was nearly C$1.045 billion and was C$2.4 million over its […] Read more
Managing millennials
Six tips to help this generation thrive, and boost your farm productivity too
Reading Time: 5 minutes You’ve heard all of the bad things about the millennial workforce. These “kids” want trophies just for showing up for work. The entire generation thinks it’s somehow entitled. And if they do show up, they have zero work ethic. The science agrees, to a point. Data do show that millennials (the generation born between 1980 […] Read more
What if bigger farms aren’t better?
Canada’s largest farms are unbeatable. At least, we’re pretty sure they maybe are
Reading Time: 6 minutes Are Canada’s mid-sized farms heading in the same direction as the dinosaurs? That’s not exactly what a recent analysis by think-tank Agri-Food Economic Systems is predicting, but there’s no question it wants to raise some doubts before you grow your own farm any bigger. Large farms are booming in Canada, and they’re doing that mainly […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
