Bin full of death

I took this picture of a bin full of dead, frozen pigs.  It’s not an indictment of the hog industry. It’s not strong commentary. It’s not even an exposé of a heinous act. It is, however, a bewildering tableaux to see so close to a highway. And, it is a stupid thing for a farm […] Read more

Soil moisture as of freeze-up

Before you look at the map take a close look at the legend. This year’s soil moisture map is made the same way as the map you saw in these pages last year. This year’s map is based on the depth of moist soil — that is, it’s a map of the “wetting front” as […] Read more


Changing trends in agriculture

I read a climate research article that was tracking solar activity such as sun spots. The conclusion was that, on average, the North American hemisphere will cool by about 9 C. Another report suggests we could see the continued spread of the U.S. drought, north into the Canadian Prairies. How reliable are the weather models […] Read more

Editor’s column

When they remember that our little boy is old enough to head off to kindergarten, our city friends’ first questions are usually: “Will he have to go on the bus?” “How long will have to be on the bus?” and, “Are you okay with him going on the bus?” When I tell them that that […] Read more


Rules of thumb: missing from Henry’s Handbook

These rules of thumbs could have been included in my book, Henry’s Handbook of Soils and Water. Rule 1: Water and nutrient use by dept A while back Gordon Kent, Riverhurst farmer and former winter instructor in Agricultural Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan asked me why Henry’s Handbook did not have the 40, 30, 20, 10 […] Read more

Natural sub-irrigation

In December it was my good fortune to attend the Manitoba Agronomists Conference in Winnipeg. My duty was to deliver a lecture on saline soils. It has been dry the past two summers in Manitoba, and black soils have turned white — as predicted in this column a year or two ago. It was my pleasure […] Read more


Profit by managing risk

Risk management isn’t all about crop pricing and stock markets. 
There are lots of ways to manage many different types of risk

Spring is approaching and with it comes the anticipation of a hectic and sometimes stressful time of year: seeding! I want to take some time to talk about other aspects of farm risk management that you can deal with now that can and will save you time and money come the busy time of spring […] Read more

Succession: Just do it — part four

In this final instalment, Andrew DeRuyck and Mark Sloane offer 
10 options for transferring your farm to the next generation

The moral of this series is that often the biggest obstacle in developing a succession plan is getting started. We’ve been involved in many successful transitions. The common thread is often that one generation takes the bull by the horns and develops options they feel they can offer the other generation. The following list outlines […] Read more


A blueprint for spring

Despite the bitter cold and short days, Toban Dyck is dreaming of what he’ll do 
with his new farmyard 
when spring finally comes

I want to write about my backyard ice rink, but fear it may be too off topic for this column. The rink, for me, is pride and the fall happening at the same time. It’s proving a challenge to get that surface smooth. But, it’s one flood away from being a surface I would let […] Read more

A gentle plan to preserve value on retirement

With some careful planning and good investing, this Manitoba farm couple can be ready for retirement

Paul and Emma Thompson, as we’ll call them, both 50, have farmed in central Manitoba for a quarter of a century. The couple, whose names we’ve changed to protect their identities, have 800 acres they own personally and another 960 acres of pasture that their farm corporation owns. The corporation also owns 200 head of […] Read more