Men wearing what look like military uniforms speak with a member of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) outside of the Senekal magistrate’s court at Senekal in South Africa’s Free State province on Oct. 16, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko)

South African white farmers, Black protesters face off over farm murder

Two suspected killers of farmer attend court hearing

Reading Time: 2 minutes Senekal | Reuters –– White South African farmers and Black protesters hurled abuse and threats at each other on Friday during a court hearing in a murder case that has exposed still simmering racial tensions 26 years after the end of apartheid. The killing of Brendan Horner, a white man whose body was found tied […] Read more

hanson acres

Hanson Acres: A long hot summer suddenly comes to a sticky sweet end

It all just goes to show that on the farm, if it isn’t one thing, it’s always another

Reading Time: 5 minutes Near the end of harvest, Jeff could barely remember a day that hadn’t been hot. Too hot. The excitement of a nice sunny day had worn off weeks earlier. At least there was a breeze today. “Can we have a bonfire tonight, Dad?” 10-year-old Connor asked from the passenger seat as Jeff turned into the […] Read more


Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou leaves B.C. Supreme Court on a lunch break during her extradition hearing in Vancouver on Jan. 22, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Jennifer Gauthier)

China denies ‘coercive’ diplomacy with Canada

Envoy again urges release of Huawei executive

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — China on Thursday denied it had taken two Canadian men hostage, and repeated a call for the release of a Huawei Technologies executive held in Canada who faces extradition to the United States amid a long-running diplomatic dispute. Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, a Chinese citizen, was arrested in Vancouver […] Read more

Louise and Percy Schmeiser. (Mary Lou Schechtel photo courtesy Mongrel Media)

Farmer and activist Percy Schmeiser, 89

Thorn in Monsanto's side also the subject of a new major film

Reading Time: 3 minutes Funeral services are to be held and livestreamed Saturday for Prairie farmer, businessman and activist Percy Schmeiser, best known for his ultimately unsuccessful court battles with the company behind Roundup Ready canola. Schmeiser, who farmed at Bruno, Sask., about 90 km east of Saskatoon, died Tuesday at age 89. According to Saskatchewan media, he had […] Read more


“They were surprised I could do it,” Bob Baloch says, but that’s exactly what he has done, working, dreaming and sweating to become a Canadian farmer.

A new farm story

Most of Canada’s farms got their start when previous generations of immigrants made sacrifices and worked hard to gain a toehold, often via truck farming. Is it still happening?

Reading Time: 9 minutes Bob Baloch has taken what he has learned about logistics and marketing from working in the IT world, married it up with his experiences of growing up on a family farm in Pakistan, and applied it to create a highly diverse and successful fruit and vegetable farm on 23.5 acres of land at Rodney, Ont. […] Read more

Harvard biz prof John Kotter predicts big wins for farmers who see it’s vital to get better at managing change.

How might penguins offer farm advice? Read on

Guide Books Review: Our Iceberg Is Melting. Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions

Reading Time: 3 minutes What is more urgent than a melting iceberg? Not much, say scientists. No matter where we live or what work we do, all of us have got to expect a devastating series of cataclysmic ripple effects as long as the world’s ice continues to melt. But the penguins have a plan. At least, the penguins […] Read more


The human bowel contains between 10 and 100 trillion micro-organisms that protect against harmful bacteria, promote good bowel function, and are involved in your immune system.

Guide Health: Your bowel – don’t take it for granted

Yes, your bowel habits are very personal, but get your symptoms checked sooner, not later

Reading Time: 2 minutes You don’t really think about your bowel until something goes wrong like constipation or diarrhea. Your digestive tract includes everything from your mouth to your rectum, but often the word “bowel” is meant to be your small and large intestine. The small intestine is made up of three parts, specifically the duodenum, jejunum and ileum, […] Read more

Real estate apps are already big business in residential markets. If they cut transaction costs, why not in agriculture too?

Selling land by app

When you think of it, do we really need real estate agents in an era with so much technology?

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Find me an app. I’m going to sell the back 40.” Talk is starting to make the circuit that it’s time for automation to take over farmland wheeling and dealing, and it might not be that much of a stretch. As long ago as 2013, which is ancient history for electronic technology, a University of […] Read more


Tom Button

Editor’s Note: Getting together on a plan for 2021

Reading Time: 2 minutes Agriculture is getting more and more diverse and the gaps between our farms are growing, which is why we need a higher percentage of farmers getting involved in farm organizations. Here are two questions we almost never ask in our Country Guide interviews. What farm organizations are you involved in? And how much emphasis do […] Read more

"It’s hard for people to admit they have a problem,” says Art Lange. Then the day comes when they basically have no choice.

From bad to worse, to better again

How one farm couple and their financial advisor restructured significant debt to dig them out of dire financial circumstances

Reading Time: 6 minutes Art Lange, left, walks the field edge and says that in an ideal world, every farm would make money every year and every farm manager would always make the best financial decisions. But it’s not a perfect world. Well-kept financial records help. So do staying on top of production costs and following a budget, but […] Read more