(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

New rule on farm transfer tax treatment put off to 2022

Farm groups protest delay

Reading Time: 3 minutes Rule changes passed in a federal bill to standardize tax treatment for sales of family-owned farms and small businesses will be delayed to the start of 2022, to the dismay of several farm groups. Bill C-208, a private member’s bill spearheaded by western Manitoba Conservative MP Larry Maguire with amendments to the federal Income Tax […] Read more

Total farm assets in Alberta rose by just over $8 billion and nearly all of it was due to a jump in the value of land.

The value of Alberta farms rises again

Rising land prices – fuelled by higher crop prices – up by $8 billion but debt also rose in 2020

Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – You’re richer than you think — and you owe more, too. That could be the theme of StatsCan’s latest snapshot of farm equity, the number you get when subtracting farm debts from the value of assets. If you had put all of the assets of every farm in Canada on the auction […] Read more


If inflation returns in earnest, so could higher interest rates that could impact your farm's financial health.

Interest rates biggest farm finance risk

Farm Credit Canada says the pace of debt growth has slowed but farmers need to have an interest rate risk management plan

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – The expansion of Canada’s farm debt continued, but at its lowest pace in six years. Meanwhile Farm Credit Canada’s chief economist says that the potential for higher interest rates is the “darkest cloud” in that otherwise optimistic picture. Statistics Canada data showed outstanding Canadian farm debt increased by 5.9 per cent to […] Read more

An undated photo from CN’s media gallery shows a locomotive travelling through the Ashcroft, B.C. area. (CN.ca)

CN, CP trains ordered to slow down against fire risk

Ministerial order in effect until Oct. 31

Reading Time: 3 minutes A new federal ministerial order calls for Canada’s big two railways to significantly cut their train speeds in any areas deemed to be at an “extreme” fire risk. “With extreme weather events occurring more severely and frequently in Canada due to climate change, it is important to have an adaptive regulatory system that responds to […] Read more


People queue up outside a public supermarket’s doors in Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela, in April 2015. (iStock/Getty Images)

World Food Programme starts distributing food in Venezuela

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said Wednesday it had begun distributing school meals to children in Venezuela, where some seven million people require humanitarian assistance after years of economic collapse in the once-prosperous OPEC nation. The WFP’s first take-home rations were distributed for children under six years old at some 277 schools […] Read more

The Blair’s agro centre at Lipton, Sask. (Blairs.ag)

Co-op, Blair’s joint venture to sell one crop input centre

Regulator sees overlap between Co-op, Blair's at Lipton

Reading Time: 2 minutes A new joint venture formed to run seven existing crop input retail centres in central and southeastern Saskatchewan will settle for six. The federal Competition Bureau on Wednesday announced an agreement with Federated Co-operatives (FCL) and the ag retail arm of the Saskatchewan-based Blair’s Family of Companies toward approval of their proposed joint venture. Blair’s […] Read more


Jourdyn Sammons.

Moving towards a career with purpose

Discovering an interest in range management has broadened Jourdyn Sammons' educational opportunities

Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – When Jourdyn Sammons joined the University of Saskatchewan’s Range Team in her third year of undergraduate studies, it led to an exciting field of study that’s positively shaped her educational experience.  “We talk about varying topics like ecology and grazing practices and multiple-use relationships, like how people can utilize rangeland for its facilities,” says Sammons, who grew up on a cow-calf and grain farm […] Read more



A 2021 Toyota Tundra Trail edition pickup truck. (Media.toyota.ca)

Sale of new fuel-powered cars, light trucks to be banned from 2035

Interim targets to be set for 2025, 2030

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Canada will ban the sale of fuel-burning new cars and light-duty trucks from 2035 in an effort to reach net-zero emissions across the country by 2050, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government said on Tuesday. Only zero-emissions cars and trucks can be sold from 2035, according to a statement, adding that a […] Read more

For farmers who are new to business planning, a yearly meeting to measure goals against annual performance is often a first step.

Your approach to a farm business plan? Implement, review, and repeat

Adding these business planning tasks to your management routine can keep your farm on track

Reading Time: 4 minutes Writing a farm business plan is no easy feat. Whether you take the do-it-yourself route or hire an advisor to guide you through the process, the analysis, the tough conversations and the forward thinking add up to a significant investment in time and resources.  Then, when your newly written business plan is nearing completion, the […] Read more