Equip Blog

In an article published in the current issue of Country Guide, Grainews’ sister publication, Lois Harris reported on the results of a survey conducted to gauge the public’s perception of Canadian agriculture. The survey she cited was commissioned by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), and it found that “consumers really don’t know much about agriculture”. […] Read more

I’m not sure how many farm shows and machinery events I’ve been at in the last five years, certainly a lot. And they’ve been spread over a pretty wide geographic area, across North America and in Europe. There are also a few shows I haven’t been able to get to that are still on my […] Read more

Last week I was one of the guest speakers at the Selkirk Grain Information Day just outside of Winnipeg. Manitoba’s provincial agriculture department puts this event on each January, and I’ve spoken there several times on machinery topics. Aside from imparting any wisdom—or reasonable facsimile thereof—to those who chose to show up and listen to […] Read more

Tis the season when writers at all publications seem to feel an irresistible urge to summarize the year that was. I’m not immune to that force, but this year I have something better to tell you about. I was actually visited three times by ghosts who represent farm machinery, past, present and future. Last night […] Read more

With cold temperatures back again, most prairie farmers are resigning themselves to the task of operating farm equipment through another Canadian winter—forecast again to be a nasty one. At the same time, one group has taken their tractor to the coldest continent on the planet—on purpose! The Antarctica2 expedition intends to retrace the path of […] Read more

With the latest “Polar Vortex” to sweep across the Prairie, getting machines to operate in those frigid temperatures usually requires some additional effort. And if you climbed into your late-model pickup truck and noticed a tire pressure warning light come on, you’re not alone. According to General Motors, the first hard dip in temperatures each […] Read more

Once upon a time, not long ago farm equipment dealerships were all about iron. Walk in the front door and all you’d see were oil filters, batteries and new machine posters. Out back, in the service department, it was all oil and grease. But that was then. As I spoke with John Schmeiser last week, […] Read more

Now that most field operations have finished for the season and the first snow storm has hit the prairie, it’s time for farmers to think about end-of-season maintenance procedures before tucking those big machines into a storage shed for the winter. AGCO has some tips on just what should be done to ensure machines are […] Read more

I can’t even remember all the world record-setting attempts I’ve read about in the last few years involving farm machinery in Europe. There was the one for the most tractors more than 20 years old working in one field, another was for the most vintage self-propelled forage harvesters working together, then there was the most […] Read more