Managing growth in the cow/calf business

We recently enjoyed a meeting with Sir Loin, a gentlemen beef farmer who immigrated from England in the fall of 2002. We know what you’re thinking. English, gentlemen, and beef farmer: is that possible? Okay, we admit, sometimes we embellish the truth for the purpose of a good column. Sir Loin’s position was this. He has toiled […] Read more

Momentum investing

Financial prophecies have lives of their own and, much of the time, they are dead wrong. Read the financial press and with every runup of price of some asset, there are stories saying that zooming prices of gold, potash, various hot stocks and even some junk bonds are only the beginning. With a little numerology, […] Read more


Wild-oat killer in liquid form

Prairie wheat and durum growers this year can get one of their wild-oat herbicides suspended rather than stirred. Syngenta Canada has picked up federal registration for a suspension-concentrate version of its Group 2 flucarbazone herbicide Sierra. The new version, branded Sierra 2.0, will be sold in liquid (397.33 grams per litre) rather than Sierra’s water-dispersible […] Read more

DuPont to increase investment in food, nutrition

Chemical and bioscience giant DuPont will spend $10 billion and release thousands of new products over the next nine years aimed at improving food production and nutrition. DuPont said it was setting three primary goals for “stimulating and guiding” internal efforts around its commitments to helping address global concerns about food security in light of […] Read more


The school van

When I started school in 1954 the school “van” route was up for tender and my dad decided that he could maybe take it on. He had a 1952 International half-ton truck and with a bit of work he made a box for it. A pretty simple box actually, the sides being a centre-split sheet […] Read more

Warm up to safety every day!

Earlier this month, Environment Canada apologized for misreading the signs that lead its forecasters to predict a colder than normal winter. For the most part in Western Canada, it’s been anything but! It’s still chilly out there though. Remember to respect Mother Nature. You’ve been working with your jacket unzipped and no gloves, right? Admit there have been […] Read more


Technology on the farm

Last December Farm Credit Canada (FCC) released the results of a survey about farmers and technology. I wasn’t at all surprised to see the headline: “Producers are keeping up with the times.” I really have no idea why the stereotypical farmer on TV is a guy wearing patched overalls who looks like he can barely […] Read more

Thoughts from a couple of readers

I wouldn’t say the mailbag is overflowing, but I did receive a couple comments from readers on recent items. In the Feb. 6 Keepers and Culls I threw out a comment that supply management might be an option for bringing stability to prices in the Canadian beef industry. Charolais breeder Jake Harp responded: “Supply management […] Read more


In the life-just-ain’t-fair department

It has been a bummer of a winter so far. Okay, the spring-like weather across much of Western Canada has been good/great. But the country is well into calving season and seeding season isn’t that far away, and I have yet to be given any awards or titles, been snapped up for a senator, or […] Read more