The photo shows this old scribe in his young kid days giving advice to a farmer by phone — a very efficient way to do business back in the day when phones were answered. But, I was only able to help because the #12 Soils Map was right beside my phone. My first question was always, “Where are you from?” Then I could take a quick peek at the map and give a much better answer. Many thought I had the soils map in my head — 
but now the truth comes out.

Precision ag Step 1: soil maps

The most important part of precision agriculture is the soil maps of your fields


My first work on precision agriculture was actually in the 1960s and colleagues had been doing work on the idea before that. Back then it was all about identifying specific soil profile types in a field and trying to determine if their variable properties could be managed differently. Some things were clear: 1. Leached (white […] Read more

Reporter’s Notebook: Working with other boards

Making one non-profit board effective can be hard. Now, try bringing 2 together

A basic principle of horsemanship is that you should make the right thing easy for the horse to do, and the wrong thing hard. For example, if your horse doesn’t want to stand still, don’t try to force him to stand still. Instead, make him work — sidepass, turn on the foreleg, etc. The idea is that the […] Read more


Choosing that pre-seed herbicide

Choosing that pre-seed herbicide

Q & A with CPS

Q: What are some considerations when selecting a pre-seed herbicide application? A: There are significant benefits to applying herbicides prior to seeding or crop emergence. Pre-seed weed removal reduces competition for valuable moisture and nutrients required for seedling development. When selecting pre-seed herbicides, begin with the crop to be grown. Products available vary considerably by […] Read more



farmer in soybean fields

What are the “best of the best” doing?

Is your farm in the top of the field? If not, can you find a way to get there?

“The success of any farm enterprise, regardless of size, geography, or commodity is directly related to the farm business management skills and practices of the farm manager.” This is a quote from a session I attended at FarmTech, put on by Farm Management Canada. Farm Management Canada has gathered some very interesting information in an extensive cross-Canada survey focusing on best […] Read more

Dairy Corner: Vitamin A expensive, but necessary

Dairy Corner: Vitamin A expensive, but necessary

Although the price has shot up, it is important to keep the nutrient in dairy rations

Prices of vitamin A (along with vitamins D and E) have increased to 10 times their former costs from just a few months ago. This skyrocketing price is due to a recent fire at a new manufacturing facility in Germany as well as several vitamin ADE plants that are down for maintenance in China. Together, these events have caused a worldwide shortage […] Read more



All loaves were made with the same dough, but shaped differently. 
Left to right: Cross-grained, machine-shaped and hand-shaped.

Reporter’s Notebook: From combine to customer

A trip to the Cigi course on export grains is teaching Lisa Guenther the fine details

I’m writing this column after my second day at the Combine to Customer tour, the crash course in the wheat supply chain organized by the Canadian International Grains Institute (Cigi) in Winnipeg. It’s one of those info-rich events where I have more material than I know what I can do with so watch for more […] Read more


Lachie McKinnon is Nufarm’s Canadian manager.

Nufarm working its way up the middle

Don’t be too hard on the Aussies — 
they have to deal with Canadian winter

Be ready for the Aussie invasion. Some of them are here now, and more are likely to follow. It is probably a slight exaggeration to say having lunch with the fairly new-to-Canada country manager of Nufarm is really an Aussie invasion, but Lachie McKinnon is the second Australian I have met in the past 20 […] Read more