Editor’s Column

“Yes, we’d love to come to your barbecue! But only if it’s raining.” “What? We were supposed to RSVP? Well, we’re here now! And there’s always room for one more at a wedding, right?” If you’ve found yourself saying one of those lines or something like them, maybe you’re a farmer. (Or at least married […] Read more

Earthworm survey results

Survey results are in. We’re seeing more and more earthworms in 
the Prairies than we saw before, and we sure don’t like them in our gardens

In the October 22, 2012 issue of Grainews we talked about earthworms and the impact our current farming system has had in developing viable populations in farm fields. It had been my observations that earthworms were rare in farm fields with our old farming system of fallow and mainly cereal crops with little fertilizer. The […] Read more


Lions and lambs

A fun, but not very reliable weather saying tells us: If March comes in like a lion it will go out like a lamb. It often happens that March begins cold and stormy and ends warm and balmy. People tend to think that nature, and life, always strives for a balance, which may have been […] Read more

Editor’s Column

When our phone rang at 6:45, we knew who it would be before my husband picked it up. “Just as well,” I heard my husband say. “I wasn’t looking forward to going out there to move enough snow out of the lane so you could turn around in the yard.” It was too dangerous for […] Read more


The honeymoon is over

Now that Toban Dyck and his wife have spent some time on the farm, 
he’s ready to get on with the real business of farming

The farm is now my home. My wife and I no longer spend time gasping at how our current situation differs from our last decade of life in the city. A month and a half into country life, we now exist in the brief limbo period between being an outsider and an engaged member of […] Read more

Change can be a good thing

The popular quote is “Change can be a good thing.” That’s only true if you can figure out how to benefit from the change

Delivering to the Cana-dian Wheat Board has changed. You need to figure out if delivering to the new CWB can benefit you, and how (or if) you can use CWB in your marketing plan. Admin Changes 2. An important change has been made to contracts for landlords and interested parties. Separate contracts must be signed […] Read more


Age and illness threaten an Alberta family farm

When it’s time for generational change, this family needs to consider age and their children’s special requirements

It is a farm in crisis. A couple we’ll call Max, 74, and Ruth, 71, are struggling to keep 640 acres of mixed hay and grain in central Alberta going. But it’s getting to be almost impossible. Max has trouble getting around and is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. As a result, they have rented out […] Read more

Three sell signals can lock in profits

Between my last article and this one, administrations in Europe and the U.S. have set up what are called “infinite quantitative easing” or “perpetual easy money.” I believe that over the next couple of years these monetary policies will help to drive up the price of gold and silver, but both will be volatile. At […] Read more


The plight of a barbershop drifter

My mother’s longtime friend Jean McKenzie always maintains, “there are only three days between a bad haircut and good haircut.” The point being, if you wait a couple days, any haircut will look good. Jean always has a nice easy to care for hairstyle, and I don’t get the impression she spends many hours stressing over […] Read more

Editor’s Column: The last lunch

For most farmers across the Prairies, harvest is over. At our farm, we managed to get the crop off without any major problems, but yields were not what we hoped. We aren’t alone. On Oct. 4, Statistics Canada released its September crop estimates, reporting a 17.5 per cent drop in canola yields compared with last […] Read more