grain truck unloading

Currency and the wheat basis

Grain companies are blending their currency conversions into the wheat basis. 
For western Canadian farmers, this is not pricing transparency at its best

As I explained in my last article maybe we aren’t being ripped off with the wheat basis, but it looks to me like we are being misled (ripped off) with the currency conversion being calculated within the basis! Let me expand on this with some numbers and facts so that you can decide what transparency […] Read more

financial market chart

Investing in financial markets

In Part 1 of this new series on financial management basis, Andrew Allentuck explains how to choose a manager for your money

Warren Buffett, the tycoon from Omaha who became America’s second richest billionaire after Bill Gates, quipped that investing is simple but not necessarily easy. The simplicity is understanding relatively few things very, very well. The job entails both researching each business he buys and having the guts to stick to rules he traces back to Ben […] Read more


stubble soil moisture map of the Canadian prairies

Stubble soil moisture map

Les Henry’s annual stubble soil moisture map shows, for the most part,
an overall rise in the water table across the Prairie region

The situation as of freezeup 2014, brought a few changes. My red pencil was not used even in Alberta and “super wet” is back as it was in 2010 and 2012. “Super wet” is for areas that had significant rains on top of that needed to bring the entire soil profile to “field capacity.” The […] Read more

sarah weigum at japanese embassy

Export sales mission to Asia

Sarah Weigum travels to Japan to learn more about international ag sales

If it hadn’t been such a rainy harvest, I may not have found myself on a flight to Tokyo last November. I can’t remember if I was waiting for a shower to dry up or the snow to melt, but one morning in early September I read an article in one of the farm papers […] Read more


Twitter logo

To tweet or not to tweet

Twitter can be overwhelming for new users. Find out whose tweets you 
should be following, what to tweet about and the etiquette rules to live by


To tweet or not to tweet? That is a question some of you may be pondering. On the one hand, there are more farmers on Twitter than gophers in Saskatchewan. And scientists and researchers. And specialists with chemical, seed and fertilizer companies. And government officials, grain traders, media. The whole ag sector is there. Twitter […] Read more

dairy calf drinking milk

Feed more milk as temperature drops

In general terms, increase the amount of milk (or milk replacer) fed by about 
two per cent for every 1 degree C when the temperature drops below 20 C

Newborn dairy calves, until about a month old raised in an unheated or cold facilities, often struggle with poor growth rates and are more susceptible to disease. By assuring a high plane of dietary milk energy, dairy producers can largely avoid bringing a winter energy crisis inside the calf barn. In order to survive the […] Read more


grain sample in a dish

Making sense of seed tests

Agronomy tips... from the field

When you’re looking to get your crop off to the best possible start this season, the last thing you need is to be saddled with poor quality seed. That’s why I always recommend you take the time now to get your seed tested at an accredited laboratory. Knowledge is power and having a clear idea […] Read more

Though there have been worse floods along the Red River in Manitoba, 2009 still packed a punch for many farmers.

Extreme weather events: Part 3 of a three-part series

In the third part of a three-part series on water, Les Henry takes a look at the long term

The past few wet years have left some folks wondering if this is the new normal. What with Global Warming and all, perhaps we will have to live with these wet extremes. What we fail to recognize is that our experiences — even old fossils like me — are but a very brief flash in […] Read more


farm equipment seeding canola

What’s the word on the street

Home from his trip to Farm Tech in Edmonton, Brian Wittal shares his insights 
from the conference hallways and his forecast for 2015 seeded canola acres


Having just returned from the FarmTech conference in Edmonton I thought it would be a good time to pass on to you some of my insights from the sessions and networking over the three days. After taking in three different grain market outlook sessions I came away with a broad range of information from three […] Read more

Wheat seedlings growing in Petri dishes

Taking research inventory

Last month the Western Grains Research Foundation released a new report. “Fertile Ground: Agronomic Research Capacity in Western Canada” is the result of a lot of surveys conducted by the Edmonton-based consulting firm, Toma and Bouma Management Consultants. The WGRF funded this study to take a snapshot of the current state of Prairie agronomic research. […] Read more