Put spreads can make us money

Andy is moving from covered calls to put spreads. Find out how he does it, and what it’s doing for him

As you know, I like to sell covered calls on some of the stocks I own. This is a rare strategy that is not understood by many, so they call it risky. I’ve had a lot of practice selling calls these past six or seven years so I figured it was time to expand my […] Read more

Pre-book seed

In the middle of a cold Prairie winter, leaving your worries behind with a winter vacation sounds like a good idea. One worry some farmers hitting the beach this winter will be leaving behind is what to plant next spring, as they have pre-purchased their seed before catching their flight. “Book early,” says Bret Gaetz, […] Read more


Editor’s column

In January I spent four days in London, Ontario at Syngenta’s Grower University Business Foundations Program. Every year for the past 10 years Syngenta has sent 40 farmers from across the country to the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. The goal of the course is to teach farmers about management and profitability […] Read more

Thorium technology might replace uranium

China’s is researching thorium, as a replacement for uranium in reactors. Andy Sirski explains what this could mean, gives us an update on his portfolio

In this column I will touch on research China is doing on the use of thorium instead of uranium to run reactors to produce electricity. The U.S. did a lot of work on thorium back in the 1950s but the administration wanted to develop nuclear bombs so it chose to focus on uranium instead. Now […] Read more


Soil pH

Soil pH to a soil scientist is like blood pressure to a doctor — it’s the first thing we want to know. The pH affects nutrient availability, and acid (sour) soils are generally unproductive. In many parts of the world liming acid soils to raise its pH is a fundamental part of farming. pH and […] Read more

Off-farm investments in 2013

2013 looks to be the year of the enigma when stock markets flourish in spite of economic news that gives little reason for joy. An armchair investor can look ahead with a degree of confidence that a broadly based investment strategy in Canadian large cap stocks and some exposure to American and global stocks will […] Read more


New corn varieties for 2013

A few issues ago, Grainews featured new corn varieties for 2013. Here are some more to consider. You can find more information about these Croplan varieties at www.croplangenetics.com.  2123VT2P / 2123RR 2500 CHU — Attractive later-flowering hybrids with fast drydown, good seedling vigour, and strong roots and stalks. Exceptional resistance to northern corn leaf blight, eyespot, common rust, anthracnose and fusarium stalk rot.  2845SS 2725 […] Read more

Grainews founder John Clark dies in Winnipeg

ohn Clark, the founder and first editor of Grainews, passed away Jan. 18 in Winnipeg at age 81. Born in Regina, John spent much of his early life in Kamsack, where his father Stan worked for Canada Malting. John went into plant science at the University of Saskatchewan where he received a master’s degree with […] Read more


Editor’s Column

After zipping up my warmest coat for the third day in a row, I started daydreaming about a vacation. But how much would it cost? Farm business getaways Like (almost) any farmer would, I started wondering if we could write off at least some of the costs of a trip to a sunny place this […] Read more

Turning a successful farm into retirement income

A couple we’ll call Liam and Sue, both in their early 50s, have farmed in southern Manitoba for nearly four decades. They have a big stake in the land, for they personally own 1,400 acres. Another 640 acres are owned by the family farm corporation they formed 20 years ago. The operation has been successful, […] Read more