Nitrate down the water well

Nitrate has been a problem for more than 50 years. Low levels are not unsafe

Nitrate in groundwater has been a recognized problem since a “blue- baby” was related to a nitrate-contaminated farm well in Iowa in the 1940s. A farmer took a sick baby to hospital. The baby was okay soon, but got sick again as soon as it was returned to the farm. On the third visit, the […] Read more

grain terminal

An end to the price panic

Six months ago, panic made many farmers jump and sell 
low-priced grain at historically wide basis levels

First, let’s review what was happening six months ago. Cold snowy weather backlogged logistics, but problems started months before that, in late summer and early fall. World buyers were buying little grain from Canada. They saw the big crop coming and waited for prices to fall. We lost two to three months of potential shipping […] Read more


artesian well diagram and photo

Artesian wells are not always good

Artesian wells are amazing phenomena. But they can cause salinity in the soil

Flowing artesian wells are a fascinating piece of Mother Nature in action. “Artesian” means that the water level rises above the depth of completion. The sand aquifer is confined by clay layers and pressure builds up. If the water level in the well is above the completion zone but below the ground, it is a […] Read more

monsanto-weedIDapp-iPhone

Monsanto weed ID app

Monsanto’s new app helps you identify a new 
weed in your field, and also show it on a map 


All day, every day we are bombarded with information, most of which can be critical to our operations. Many days it’s difficult to absorb all of these tidbits of gold, let alone recall them on demand. Monsanto has released a weed ID app that can ease your mental strain. Not only is it a weed […] Read more


Dress for success to apply pesticides

Farm safety

With the planting season upon us, pesticides will be part of the arsenal of tools used to prepare for and maintain the impressive patchwork of golden wheat, creamy oats, mustard canola and azure flax across the Prairies. Keeping pests at bay often requires handling chemicals, so the right mix of safe handling practices and personal […] Read more

Rye head in field

Filling a niche of our own

Our grain industry is evolving into a collection of small buyers, each looking for a specific product that will meet their specialized needs

We grow fall rye on our farm, which is not a common crop in our area. To make things even more interesting, we grow older varieties that are long-legged and prone to lodging and probably aren’t as high yielding as the newer semi-dwarf varieties. Are we ill-informed? Stuck in our ways? Suckers for punishment? Hopefully […] Read more



The Westco fertilizer story

Years of data from soil fertility tests have been collected on the Prairies. 
Now it’s time for Westco to share its data with farmers

This column is an impassioned plea to the upper management of Agrium / Crop Production Services to preserve the many years of excellent soil fertility work done by Westco. Most graphs that show crop yields and fertilizer use in the modern era start at 1960. It was August 31, 1960 that I crawled off the […] Read more


Row Of Metal Silos

Rethink your selling position

If you’re afraid to abandon your entrenched position, you could 
be missing on some profitable opportunities

Let me draw you an analogy. You’re are a private or corporal in an army. Your sergeant marches you out to a hill, where the intelligence guys summarize the enemy’s strength, what direction they’ll attack from and what weapons they’ll use. Your sergeant advises you to pick out a position based on this information and […] Read more

Woman smiling

Life’s secrets, according to you…

People of the world, tell me this — what’s one simple, magical thing 
that makes you smile every time you experience it?

It’s a wonder how much time and energy we spend chasing happiness when really, if we stood still for a moment and absorbed the ordinary, everyday moments, we’d realize that we already have it all. It reminds me of a quote from William Martin: “Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such […] Read more