Equip Blog

At the Ag in Motion farm show near Saskatoon this past summer I had a chance to take a look at some UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), or drones as they’re also referred to. Company cameraman Bruce Sergeant and I got to get our hands on a quadcopter and saw what kinds of aerial photography opportunities […] Read more

Whenever I manage to get into the corporate head office in Winnipeg and have a spare few minutes, one of the things I like to do is head downstairs and look through the archived copies of all the publications the company owns. Leafing through the pages of farm magazines that are decades old is like […] Read more

Over the years, prairie farmers have become used to seeing regional companies, primarily seeding equipment and short-line manufacturers, unveil new products at shows in Western Canada. But for the most part, the major brands have used major U.S. events almost exclusively to pull the wraps off their new machinery introductions. That is, until recently. New […] Read more

Today I was expecting to write the usual wrap up report on this year’s Agritechnica; but as I sit in the press office at the Hanover Fair Grounds, I can’t help but think of the stark contrast that currently exits in two neighbouring countries because of last night’s events in Paris. Here in Germany, at […] Read more

The world’s largest agricultural machinery expo just clicked past the half-way point here in Hanover Germany, and so far the attendance counter is already north of 175,000 visitors. That’s easily more than all the significant regional farm shows in Canada tally up in an entire season. And the higher attendance days typically happen toward the […] Read more

Back in 1969 a Hollywood movie debuted, titled “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium”. I can remember seeing it in the theatre as a kid. Why do I mention that? Well, the movie was about a bunch of tourists taking a hectic bus trip across Europe. All of them were from different countries and […] Read more

The bi-annual flood of press releases from equipment companies proudly announcing their new ideas for farm machines, some market ready, some not, are starting to fill my email inbox. Why the sudden influx? Simple. Agritechnica, the world’s largest farm machinery show, will kick off in Hannover Germany in a couple of weeks. Agritechnica, which is […] Read more

One of the biggest friendly rivalries between farm boys is about which brand of pickup truck reigns supreme. Check the rear windows of pickups around town and you’ll see all kinds of graphics that let you know what that truck owner thinks of competitive models, like an image of the cartoon Calvin character doing something […] Read more

In simultaneous announcements, both General Motors and Navistar (the parent company of International-brand trucks) announced this week that they’ve been secretly courting each other; and they intend to get together formally, albeit in a limited way, to create a pair of new Class 4 and 5 medium-duty trucks that will wear GM badges. That will […] Read more

This week’s revelation that Volkswagon deliberately cheated on official emissions compliance procedures with its diesel-powered cars is…well…mind blowing. In case you haven’t heard, the brand inserted software into the ECUs in diesel-engined vehicles that detected when the cars’s emissions were being tested. During the tests, the cars behaved themselves and conformed to legally mandated tailpipe […] Read more