Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Drainage contractors were hard at work at a farm just west of Thorndale in early June, creating a showcase tile drainage project. Numerous drainage systems and cropping best practices will be demonstrated at the farm, owned by the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA). Why it matters: Drainage is important to profitability on […] Read more
Controlled drainage showcased on Ontario demo farm
Farm near Thorndale has numerous drainage and soil health practices to see
Farm skills shape a path for fast-growing business venture
In a growing trend, Brett Sheffield has used his farm business know-how to build one of Western Canada’s largest and fastest-growing tile drainage companies
Reading Time: 8 minutes Something big jumps out at you when you scan the Growth 500 list of Canada’s fastest growing companies for 2019. It’s produced by Canadian Business magazine based on the five-year revenue growth posted by each company, and tucked in amongst all the names of all the non-agricultural, big-city enterprises on the list, is one very […] Read more
Endangered species versus drainage
Farmers, contractors and municipalities are trying to cope with Ontario’s new Endangered Species Act
Reading Time: 7 minutes From time to time, farmers can find themselves caught by a development or issue that sneaks up on them. At first, it can seem trivial, even ridiculous. But it’s like ignoring a train in the distance: before you know it, it’s speeding up on you and it’s too late to react. Changes to Ontario’s Endangered […] Read more
Where water leaves the farm
Improve your productivity by starting where water leaves your farm, and then work backwards
Reading Time: 4 minutes In the chase for higher yields and improved production, farmers have tapped into everything from precision ag systems to a return to cover crops. Now comes a concept that might not only boost yields and enhance soil health, it might also alleviate some of the pressure on farmers that starts with surface run-off heading into […] Read more
The crop production wheel
Reading Time: 2 minutes Two years ago in the September edition of Country Guide, we ran a sidebar about a “complete systems” approach to production agriculture, including the depiction of a “production wheel.” The image comes from Don Lobb, an advocate for improving soil health and tile drainage. He created the guideline in a circular or wheel configuration, and […] Read more
The pros and cons of tile drainage
Being able to remove excess moisture is a big plus, but there are a lot of factors to take into account
Reading Time: 3 minutes It wasn’t long ago that if you asked most Alberta producers if they used tile drainage, they likely wouldn’t know what you were talking about. A common practice in Ontario and the U.S. Midwest, it’s only in recent years that Alberta growers have warmed to this system in which subsurface tubes remove excess moisture from […] Read more
Working together to find solutions to algal blooms
Yes, farming is part of the Great Lakes pollution story, but let’s get the facts straight
Reading Time: 9 minutes Once again, agriculture in Eastern Canada is under fire, this time in the Great Lakes basin. Already bearing media scorn for neonicotinoid seed treatments and biotech innovations, now farmers are getting blamed for Great Lakes pollution. To be specific, the type of pollution in the headlines is eutrophication. It’s a phosphorus enrichment of waterways, and it […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
