Editor's column & Production Tips

Editor’s Column: Finding your own path on the farm

By Leeann Minogue February 26, 2020

Over at Country Guide, sister publication to Grainews, editor Tom Button has run a three-part series on women in agriculture, written by Anne Lazurko. This series is getting a lot of online attention, particularly in ag women’s forums. I’m paying attention — not only because I’m a woman on a farm, and not just because […] Read more

Editor's column, Wheat & Chaff

Editor’s Column: Don’t get too comfortable

By Leeann Minogue February 19, 2020

Farmers always like to be polite and support each other, but let’s be honest, here. It’s been easy for crop producers to get a little smug and complacent when we consider what’s happening in the meat aisle at the Co-op. There are a lot more plant-based meat “replacements” than there used to be. Sylvain Charlebois, […] Read more

Editor's column, Wheat & Chaff

Editor’s Column: The problem with democracy

By Leeann Minogue February 7, 2020

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I am the kind of person who enjoys (or at least doesn’t mind) sitting in on a good debate about the rules of order at a business meeting. This kind of passionate bickering about tabling resolutions probably doesn’t happen at biker gang summits. The most recent rules-of-order-related dispute I […] Read more

Our rough collie, Duff, managed to keep up with the side-by-side pretty well, though he refuses to ride on the toboggan.

Editor's column, Wheat & Chaff

Editor’s Column: From sledding fun to spoiled canola

By Leeann Minogue January 30, 2020

Winter is in full swing, with large-scale farmer meetings going on in Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg. Manitoba farmers who make time to go to CropConnect will have a chance to vote on whether or not their farmer-funded commodity groups should merge into one large group. In Alberta, barley and wheat growers will discuss some ideas […] Read more

In the past few years, we’ve just used grain trucks in the field. But this year we had to bring in a grain cart, with tracks, to get into the soft fields. Near the end of the last few fields we were wishing we had tracks on the combine too. I spent a few days in the combine this season for the first time in a while. I managed to keep the damage to a minimum, but I still have a lot to learn.

Editor's column, Wheat & Chaff

Editor’s Column: Paying for seed breeding

By Leeann Minogue December 6, 2019

Well that wasn’t much fun. If you finished your 2019 harvest in good time with little broken equipment and a low level of frustration, congratulations! But you probably shouldn’t tell anyone. This was not a great harvest on our farm. After a dry summer in southeast Saskatchewan, suddenly it would not stop raining. We (thankfully) […] Read more

Last week I started out the day by getting the old farm truck stuck in the mud, right in the middle of the field. It’s been that kind of year.

Editor's column, Weather

PHOTOS: Editor’s Column: The harvest season that didn’t end

By Leeann Minogue November 8, 2019

This is the third issue in a row where I’ve written the Editor’s Column thinking, “I’m sure all of the readers will be finished harvest by the time they get this issue in the mail.” And I’m starting to think it might not be true. This morning an article from the CBC popped up on […] Read more

I’m sure this rainbow is signifying that there’s a bright side to all of this rainy harvest weather. But I’m not quite sure what that is yet.

Editor's column, Weather, Wheat & Chaff

Editor’s Column: The never-ending harvest of 2019

By Leeann Minogue October 21, 2019

When we put together the last issue of Grainews, I assumed our harvest (and everyone else’s) would be finished by the time we got to our October issue. That is not how things have turned out. Like many farmers across the Prairies, we’ve had weather challenges this season. It rains, we wait for the fields […] Read more

During most of August, there were only a few days when the crop was ready and we had weather like this. By September 7, we were only about one-third finished harvest and it was pouring rain.

Editor's column, Wheat & Chaff

Editor’s Column: Make hay while the sun shines. If you can

By Leeann Minogue September 27, 2019

It’s raining today. My basement office is next to the cistern we’ve built into the basement of our house. Although we’ve tried drilling a few times, we haven’t found water yet, so we rely on this cistern for our household water. The good news today is that every drop of water that runs from the […] Read more

Scott was happy to have an air-conditioned place to sit down for a few minutes during the busy Ag in Motion show. Taking the actual blood sample took almost no time at all.

Editor's column, Wheat & Chaff

Editor’s Column: Get in the van, man

It’s just a blood test. Really!

By Leeann Minogue September 11, 2019

We’ve all seen the “Man Van” at farm shows. I’m not sure what I thought was going on in there, but it turns out there are a crew of volunteers taking simple, five-second blood samples to find out if you (or the man next to you) have prostate cancer. I saw this up close at […] Read more

Columns, Editor's column, Wheat & Chaff

Editor’s Column: The farm income news is not good news

What exactly is “realized net farm income”?  

By Leeann Minogue July 23, 2019

The news app on my phone keeps bringing up more worrying headlines about agricultural trade problems that will lead to lower farm prices. Twitter is full of grim photos of durum headed out before its time and canola crops with bare patches. I won’t write here that, as of the end of June, crops in […] Read more

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Editor’s column

Editor’s Column: Finding your own path on the farm

Editor’s Column: Don’t get too comfortable

Editor’s Column: The problem with democracy

Editor’s Column: From sledding fun to spoiled canola

Editor’s Column: Paying for seed breeding

PHOTOS: Editor’s Column: The harvest season that didn’t end

Editor’s Column: The never-ending harvest of 2019

Editor’s Column: Make hay while the sun shines. If you can

Editor’s Column: Get in the van, man

Editor’s Column: The farm income news is not good news

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