Columns & Production Tips

Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner, Columns

The fall run: the rancher’s sprint

A Little Bit Western: Most of the revenue, data and calf movement come in the fall

By Tara Mulhern Davidson December 26, 2024

I like to joke that ranching is a marathon, except when it is a sprint, and then it’s that too. There are certainly times when you are racing from one urgent task to another. While it feels like the rest of the working world has three to five business days to respond to a request, […] Read more

As farmers we need to be able to manage our emotional states. For some, connecting with nature out in our fields and pastures is our path toward greater emotional clarity.

Columns, Farm Life

Find paths out of distress, depression, disconnection

What keeps you centred and grounded? Observe and pay attention at those times

By Elaine Froese December 24, 2024

Patricia Morgan is a dynamic force for change and my good friend. She’s authored a new award-winning book, Return to Center: Simple Strategies to Navigate Distress, Depression and Disconnection. As farm families brace for or embrace the winter season, I thought we all should be reminded of good practical tools to be emotionally strong and […] Read more

Columns, Global markets, Home Quarter Investing

The cycles within economic cycles

Investing for Fun and Profit: The economic cycle, presidential cycle and stock market cycle are separate entities that interact

By Herman VanGenderen December 20, 2024

The S&P 500 — the market I’ll be referencing throughout this article — has been on a tear the past couple of years, leading many to wonder if the hot bull market can continue. It was up 26.3 per cent in 2023 and at time of writing is up about 23 per cent year-to-date. Let’s […] Read more

Biologicals, Crops, Wheat & Chaff

New biological aims to boost row crops’ yield

By Don Norman December 19, 2024

A new biostimulant that Syngenta says will boost yield for row crops is slated for release in time for the 2025 growing season. “YieldON amplifies the grain-filling processes that crops naturally do when they transition from the vegetative stage to the reproductive stage of their life cycle,” Chris Dumigan, biologicals technical lead with Syngenta Canada, […] Read more

Columns

Parents retiring, leaving farm to two sons

Farm Financial Planner: A sale of personal assets to a farm corporation is subject to a now-increased capital gains exemption

By Andrew Allentuck December 16, 2024

A couple we’ll call Jared, 68, and Leanne, 66, from eastern Manitoba, have built a successful grain farming operation. They have three sons: Josh, 40; Craig, 38; and Shawn, 36. Jared and Leanne want to work toward retirement. The plan is to have Josh and Craig take over. Josh and Craig have both been farming […] Read more

We’ve found that if domestic plum trees are raised near wild plums, wind pollination readily takes place.

Columns, Fruit/Vegetables, Practical Tips

How Prairie fruits fared in 2024

Practical Research: Past assessments show fruit trees do best on northwest- or northeast-facing slopes

By Ieuan Evans December 9, 2024

We had a very cool spring in 2024, followed by a scorching summer for the third year in a row. So, how did the farm fruit gardens produce this year compared to previous years? The answer is “surprisingly well.” Among my contacts across the Prairies from north to south, fruit production varied from good to […] Read more

Cattleman’s Corner, Columns, Markets

Feeder market trades at or near historical highs

The Markets: Larger supplies by numbers and weight will mean more beef supply year over year

By Jerry Klassen December 3, 2024

During the last week of October, Alberta packers were buying fed cattle on a dressed basis in the range of $403-$408 per hundredweight ($242-$245/cwt on a live basis). This was unchanged from a month earlier. Breakeven pen closeouts are in the range of $250-$255/cwt, so margins are in negative territory for the time being. The […] Read more

Workers on a paint assembly line at Deere and Co.'s seeding equipment manufacturing plant at Moline, Illinois in 2016.

Columns, Editor's column

Editor’s Rant: Next order of business

By Dave Bedard December 3, 2024

Given all that’s known so far about the guy, I’m not optimistic. Whether you or I like him or not, though, by this time next month, he’ll again be president of the United States. To anyone suggesting Canadians should just clam up about this development south of the border and mind our own business, I’d […] Read more

Pulses, Wheat & Chaff

Lentil fungicide gets expanded label

By Grainews Staff November 25, 2024

Corteva this summer picked up an expanded label for its Zetigo PRM fungicide — a Group 21 product which, you may recall, had a soft launch last summer for use against diseases such as ascochyta blight and anthracnose, but in lentils only. The product had its full launch this year and Health Canada’s Pest Management […] Read more

A banner for the World Central Kitchen flies where the non-profit group provides food to people transiting through a train station at Przemysl, a city on Poland's southeastern border with Ukraine, in April 2022.

Columns, Farm Life

Books worth cooking from, Part 1

The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope arranges recipes according to the non-profit’s core principles

By dee Hobsbawn-Smith November 25, 2024

How many cookbooks do you own? How many do you need? Which of each year’s new cookbooks are worth buying or borrowing? We’re going to take a look at several over the next few columns. Here’s the first! Chef José Andrés is famous in North America and his native Spain for his two dozen food […] Read more

GFM Network News

U.S. grains: Soy futures slide on China demand doubts

Spain probes whether swine fever outbreak was caused by lab leak

World food prices fall for third month in November, UN’s FAO says