Columns & Production Tips

Despite my call for an official recession in Canada, I do think our stocks will perform better, with a gain of perhaps 10 per cent.

Columns, Home Quarter Investing, Markets

A spectacular 2024 defied predictions, again

Investing for Fun and Profit: Also, my amateur investor market outlook for 2025

By Herman VanGenderen February 28, 2025

The stock market was a happy place in 2024, with the U.S. S&P 500 delivering a 25 per cent total return, including dividends. Even the laggardly Canadian TSX joined the party with a total return of 21.6 per cent. How did my 2024 predictions turn out compared to the pros, and what do I see […] Read more

Columns, Editor's column

Editor’s Rant: We’re all Phil now

By Dave Bedard February 27, 2025

It’s been a long time since I’ve watched the movie Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray plays a weatherman doomed to live out the same day over and over again, but I’d say that to see pundits talking — on and around Groundhog Day, of all days — about the suddenly urgent need to diversify Canada’s […] Read more

Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner, Columns, Markets

How tariffs could influence cattle prices

The Markets: A 10 per cent tariff on Canadian cattle could be absorbed by U.S. consumer prices

By Jerry Klassen February 26, 2025

During the first couple weeks of January, auction markets in Western Canada experienced a surge in sales as cow-calf producers increased selling prior to the Trump inauguration. Feeder cattle markets have been trading at record highs, which may have contributed to the feeder cattle liquidation; however, most cattle producers were selling in anticipation of U.S. […] Read more

About 50 per cent of rye grown in Prairie Canada is estimated to come from newer hybrids first grown in 2014.

Cereals, Columns, Practical Tips

Ergot-free rye production

Practical Research: Growing it in soils with adequate levels of available copper is one way to go

By Ieuan Evans February 21, 2025

Yes, it can be done, by following these directions. Of course, there will be skeptics, but I am dealing with the facts and not concocted opinions. First of all, if you read my previous articles in Grainews, you will come to the factual opinion that wheat, barley and oats undergo closed pollination — that is, […] Read more

Lentils, Peas, Wheat & Chaff

Fortress makes room for peas, lentils

By Dave Bedard February 20, 2025

We’ve had a lot of discussion in these pages lately about herbicide-resistant wild oats, so you’ll be interested to know Gowan Canada last month picked up a label expansion for its pre-plant granular herbicide Fortress MicroActiv, to include its use in field peas and lentils. Fortress, which combines triallate (Group 15) with trifluralin (Group 3), […] Read more

A view of what’s now the AgWest shop at Weyburn, Sask.

Machinery, Wheat & Chaff

AgWest expands westward

Two Saskatchewan sites join the Agco dealership group

By Dave Bedard February 16, 2025

During Ag Days last month in Brandon, farm equipment dealer chain AgWest announced it’s making its first move into Saskatchewan, buying the Yorkton and Weyburn locations of another Agco dealer, Agriterra Equipment. “This is a natural extension of our current presence in Elie, Neepawa, Brandon, Russell and the Swan River region in Manitoba,” AgWest’s CEO […] Read more

Young Couple Leaning on Car overlooking Farmland, Ile D'orleans, Quebec

Columns, Farm Life

Making marriage work on your farm

The dance between farm work and family time will never have a complete resolution

By Elaine Froese February 15, 2025

February is Heart Month and a good time to work on the state of your union: marriage, spousal relationships and couple care. John Gottman is a highly respected U.S. psychologist and author of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work. Here I’ve added a farm perspective to his tips based on those seven principles. Sharing […] Read more

Viterra’s Coulter Avenue elevator in Winnipeg on Jan. 22.

Columns, Editor's column

Editor’s Rant: Canadian graffiti

The government's conditions for a Bunge/Viterra marriage left much to be desired

By Dave Bedard February 11, 2025

I’ve got to admit, I’ve never fully understood the geometry behind federal regulators’ decisions on which assets a company has to sell in exchange for clearance on a big merger or takeover. There may well have been a solid reason why, after Husky sold off its retail gas stations in 2022, our neighbourhood wound up […] Read more

Spring projections are for continued lower placements in feedlots.

Cattleman’s Corner, Columns, Markets

Tighter fed cattle supplies projected for second quarter

The Markets: The trend has been toward fewer cattle in feedlots across North America in late 2024

By Jerry Klassen February 11, 2025

At the time of writing this article, April 2025 live cattle futures were trading just above $197, which was a fresh contract high. The market appears to be incorporating a risk premium due to uncertainty in beef production in both Canada and the U.S. This has provided Alberta feedlot operators opportunities to lock in favourable […] Read more

Columns, Farm Life

Tools and techniques, part 1: Ovens, shmovens

First We Eat: Training a new kitchen range means putting it through all its capabilities

By dee Hobsbawn-Smith February 10, 2025

My oven finally surrendered after 15 years of hard use. It was traumatic for me — losing a trusted tool is a shock for any serious cook. After much debate and research, the new range was installed last month. I am getting to know it. That, too, is traumatic. The fact is, frequent usage shortens […] Read more

GFM Network News

Spain probes whether swine fever outbreak was caused by lab leak

World food prices fall for third month in November, UN’s FAO says

Feed Grain Weekly: Prices levelling as demand wanes

Columns