Reg Steward works with farmers and ranchers to help business owners build safety into their everyday processes.

Summer Series: Smarter training

[Change Management] Even the best employees are only as good as they know how

Reading Time: 6 minutes Training new and existing employees about the ever-changing tasks on the farm is essential if you hope to build and maintain a great farm team. But how much should you invest in training? Are you already there, or could your farm make big strides in its efficiency if you stepped up your training initiatives? Such […] Read more



Brenna Mahoney, general manager of Keystone Agriculture Producers, speaks during a panel discussion at the Agriculture Enlightened conference in Winnipeg on Oct. 26. (Geralyn Wichers photo)

Think outside the agriculture box for labour, ag and tech leaders say

Agriculture in the Classroom is reaching non-farming students with inspiration for ag jobs, panelists say

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ag and tech leaders encouraged employers to think outside the agricultural box when looking to hire workers in order to expand the labour pool.  “I’m one of the lucky ones,” said Brenna Mahoney, general manager of Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP).  Mahoney entered the industry with no agriculture experience. She had training in human resources and […] Read more

The constant input of farmers has been key to the program, which recently finished its third cohort of attendees.

Training fills the gaps between agriculture and technology

Program aims to match tech specialists with farmers and industry employers

Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Say there’s trouble with the automated GIS and mapping features on the tractor, but you can’t find a tech with enough knowledge to offer help. It’s a simple example of the kind of employment gaps that keep farmers up at night, and that prevent their adoption of new technology, said the manager of an […] Read more


An artist’s rendering of the Prairie Crops and Soils Research Facility at the University of Manitoba. Photo: University of Manitoba

Feds, Manitoba pledge $6.4M to ag research facility

The new facility will modernize crop and soil research and training at the University of Manitoba

Reading Time: 2 minutes The Federal and Manitoba governments have thrown their weight behind development of a facility touted to become Canada’s pre-eminent resource for field crop research. “A great deal of our agriculture industry’s success comes from research and skill development,” said federal ag minister Marie-Claude Bibeau in a news release, Tuesday. Bibeau and Derek Johnson, Manitoba’s minister […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Alberta offers equivalency plan, grants for aspiring truckers

Province to cut Class 1 qualifying time for Class 3 drivers

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Alberta government plans to reduce the entry fees — and the time required — for some drivers wanting to level up to become Class 1 truckers. Provincial Transportation Minister Ric McIver on Nov. 26 announced a new “Experience and Equivalency” program that’s expected to reduce the time required for Class 3 drivers to upgrade […] Read more


UQAR rector Jean-Pierre Ouellet, regional development minister Marie-Eve Proulx, UdeM rector Daniel Jutras, Dr. Christine Theoret, UdeM dean of veterinary medicine and provincial ag minister André Lamontagne (l-r) announced the funding Sept. 3, 2020 for the feasibility study. (UQAR photo by Stephane Lizotte)

Montreal’s veterinary college to study eastward expansion

Province backs feasibility study for Rimouski-based program

Reading Time: 3 minutes With a eye on expanding livestock veterinary services in the Lower St-Lawrence and Gaspesie, the Quebec government is backing a feasibility study to bring veterinary studies to the region. The province on Thursday announced assistance of $627,946 for 2019-20 for a feasibility study making a business case to offer the Universite de Montreal’s veterinary medicine […] Read more

An artists’ rendition of the Merit Functional Foods plant under construction in Winnipeg. (Meritfoods.com)

Plant-protein processor’s new processing plant gets grant

Feds, province put up cash for new equipment

Reading Time: 2 minutes The federal and Manitoba governments have added a seven-figure contribution to their support for a new facility to process plant proteins from canola and peas. Merit Functional Foods will put the additional money toward “new equipment purchases that will support the transformation of raw inputs into value-added goods.” The unspecified new technology is expected to […] Read more


“Our success depends on surrounding ourselves with competent, skilled team members,” says Farm Management Canada’s Heather Watson.

Does your farm team have the skills your farm needs the most?

Summer can be the best time of year to ask

Reading Time: 9 minutes First, let’s start with something everyone can agree on. Investing in developing the skills of the farm team is vital for the continued success of every farm. It’s documented by Farm Management Canada’s Dollars and Sense study too, and by the finding that the number one practice of Canada’s top farmers — in other words, […] Read more

(Kat72/iStock/Getty Images)

Alberta extends deadline again for farm trucker training

Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta farmers who want the Class 1 license needed to drive commercial-scale tractor trailers but haven’t yet met the new training requirements can now apply for another extension to do so. The provincial transportation department on Friday announced further extensions are now available for farmers and farm workers seeking Class 1 licenses and for school […] Read more