‘A pinball wizard’s got such a supple wrist’

‘A pinball wizard’s got such a supple wrist’

For many market participants, 2022 was a volatile and negative year

Strategically located a block from my high school, lurked a pool hall readily luring innocent students from their studies. While it was busiest during lunch hour and après school, business remained brisk during school hours. Must have been students on their spares! At its entrance stood a bank of pinball machines, always busy and always […] Read more

Insects come and go over the years, so ask other growers and agronomists what you need to watch out for to help gauge costs.

Consider variable costs when planning your rotation

Q & A with an expert

Q: What key financial decisions do I need to make about crop production and protection? A: Going into the 2023 growing season, you may be thinking, what are the key financial decisions I need to make around crop production and protection?  This question is one of the most important every year for crop planning. There […] Read more


Rats cause many millions of dollars in damage to crops, food losses and buildings in Canada annually.

Successful pest protection and prevention programs

Given the right advice and a willingness to co-operate, Prairie growers can do a lot to mitigate or prevent crop yield losses

Pests of all kinds — weeds, animals, insects or diseases — would like to find a good home on your crop production acres. Prevention is by far the best method of pest control. If you can stop or prevent the pest from gaining a foothold on your acres, you are winning the battle. You do […] Read more

On a dollar basis, this plan is clearly unfair, for the non-farming son would appear to be shortchanged.

Plan a fair and tax-efficient exit strategy for all

How to pass on the operation to farming children while keeping share division fair for non-farmers

A couple we’ll call Bob and Linda, both in their early 60s, have run a successful farming operation in south-central Manitoba. They have 1,280 acres of which two quarters are pasture for 100 head of beef cows and the balance in wheat and barley. After 40 years of farming, they want to plan an exit […] Read more





Strong families celebrate. Think about how great you are going to feel when you embrace the power of target dates and timelines.

Froese: The power of target dates

Seeds of Encouragement: Setting timelines for action can be key in planning your farm’s future

There’s nothing scarier for farm families who are trying to gain control over their lives than to have no clue about what the future holds. As a coach I call this “the pain of not knowing.” Time has a way of slipping quickly by, something like the toilet paper roll that spins faster as it […] Read more

If your dairy cows aren't doing enough cud chewing it could be a sign of  several related problems such as low dietary fiber; reduced feed intakes, poor feed digestion, sub-clinical rumen acidosis (SARA), feet and leg problems, butterfat depression all that can result in poor milk production.

Dairy cows need effective forage fibre

The Dairy Corner: Cud-chewing, or lack thereof, could be an indicator of several problems due to a low fibre diet

High-producing dairy cows always need a good level of effective forage fibre in a well-balanced lactation diet that not only supports good milk and milk fat production, but promotes good cow health and digestion. Anytime I walk into a dairy barn, I take a minute to watch the cows resting in their stalls. If most […] Read more


Research studies in Western Canada have shown general applications of boron fertilizer are not warranted to optimize canola yields or quality.

Do Prairie crops need boron fertilizer?

Before you apply boron fertilizer, read this

We often hear about the need for boron (B) fertilizer to optimize canola production and occasionally for other crops. However, boron is not widely used as a fertilizer in Western Canada. In the fall of 2021, Fertilizer Canada surveyed western Canadian wheat and canola growers to determine fertilizer use. This survey found about 8.6 per […] Read more

*Acquisition integration affecting trailing 12-month. **One very bad year of writedowns affecting 10-year numbers. Currency is native currency of the company.

Who makes the big bucks in the agri-food sector?

From an investment standpoint, choose carefully

After studying the ag supply sectors in my last article, I wanted to take the project a step further to examine companies between the farm gate and the consumer. Like with ag suppliers, my findings are somewhat surprising. I looked at four sectors: grain handling and primary processing, railroads, food manufacturers and food retail, with […] Read more