Columns & Production Tips

I can’t name one farmer who thinks his or her operation should only last for one generation. I can, however, name at least 12 farmers who routinely scoff at the word sustainability.

Toban Dyck: Ag shouldn’t play soccer when hockey is what it’s trained to play

I don’t want to write about sustainability, but I have to

By Toban Dyck March 6, 2023

There is a scene in the book The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary that is too graphic for me to write about openly. This work by Simon Winchester is one of my favourite reads and it galvanized in me a deeper appreciation for […] Read more

If your cropland is presently clubroot-free, keep it that way. Do not allow any mud-carrying equipment of any kind on your cropland other than your own farm equipment. Plant resistant varieties and keep the land clubroot-free to enhance your financial future.

Columns, Crops

Present and future plant disease and weed issues in the Prairies, Part 1

Disease prevention works if you follow standard crop biosecurity procedures

By Ieuan Evans March 6, 2023

Here are 10 of the more important disease and weed issues in Western Canada, but I could easily add 10 more. 1. Clubroot of canola2. Cereal cyst nematode3. Soybean cyst nematode4. Aphanomyces root rot of peas and lentils5. Verticillium wilt of canola6. Sudden death syndrome of soybean7. Potato cyst nematode8. Potato powdery scab9. Sclerotinia white […] Read more

Wheat & Chaff

How to prevent tractor rollovers and runovers

By Canadian Agricultural Safety Association March 6, 2023

It’s common knowledge that tractors are used day in and day out on farms across Canada. They’re essential to farm productivity and are a regular sight on rural roadways during the spring planting and fall harvest seasons. While tractors are vital for completing many farm tasks, using these machines is a hazardous activity that people […] Read more

The tree row catches the snow, and the big slough goes from dry to high water table. In years gone by, I spent many hours with three, two-inch pumps to move water from the slough to adjacent upland — not always a huge success.

Columns, Crops

Les Henry: Twenty-seven years of crops at my Dundurn farm

And a few lessons learned

By Les Henry March 2, 2023

In the early 1990s, agriculture in Saskatchewan was still suffering from the devastation of the 1980s. Drought and poor crops with low prices were bad news. But, interest rates as high as 20 per cent were the kicker that resulted in much land going back to FCC or the Royal Bank. (Yes, Virginia, interest rates […] Read more

Columns, Crops

The benefits of irrigation in Alberta

Irrigation plays a significant role in increasing crop and livestock production

By Ross H. McKenzie March 2, 2023

Irrigation is often referred to as the “lifeblood” of southern Alberta. Irrigation water was first diverted from the St. Mary River in 1900 and arrived by canal system to Magrath, Raymond and Lethbridge. Now, 122 years later, just over 1.8 million acres are irrigated in Alberta. Irrigated agriculture contributes about $6.5 billion to Alberta’s GDP […] Read more

A baby fox hissing and acting big in the safety of a tree trunk while my two dogs barked at it.

Columns, Features

PHOTOS: Midsummer creatures on the farm

By Toban Dyck March 1, 2023

The growing season takes place and things happen along the way — moments, characters, oddities. Every year, our dogs play a leading role on the farm. They are excited to be among the busyness on the yard. They enjoy following the tractor when we’re close to home. And, in the middle of summer, when all […] Read more

It’s not just a matter of new resistant weeds turning up, weeds that already have resistance are also spreading out.

Columns, Crops, Editor's column

Editor’s Column: Outside-the-box weed control

By Mark Halsall March 1, 2023

It’s a frequent refrain on the Canadian Prairies — herbicide-resistant weeds are a growing problem that every farmer needs to take seriously. The alarm bells have been going off for some time, so most everyone in Canadian ag knows this by now. An example of that is a Canola Digest article from Jan. 6, 2023, on […] Read more

Columns, Crops

What is soil fertility?

There are no miracles in crop production, just sound scientific facts

By Ieuan Evans February 27, 2023

Soil fertility for field crops is a very simple affair but extremely difficult to easily explain. Think logically. There are no miracle fertilizers, only plain and simple chemical nutrients whether from an organic source or from a concentrate of nutrients we call chemical or synthetic fertilizer. There is no such thing as a synthetic fertilizer. […] Read more

Having a reasonable cost of money – ie: higher interest rates – often motivates a more judicious use of personal finances.

Columns

Value investing is dead … long live value investing

“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” — Mark Twain

By Herman VanGenderen February 24, 2023

As I was cleaning my desk clutter, I came across a Globe and Mail article titled, “Five reasons why value investing may never regain its appeal.” It appeared Aug. 27, 2019, after a decade in which growth stocks had significantly outperformed value stocks. It isn’t unusual to see these types of headlines just before a […] Read more

Wheat & Chaff

Prairie Memoirs: My grandfather, the land and me

By Bill Massey February 22, 2023

Grandfather immigrated to Canada in 1903. Never having had any experience farming, he had to learn from the ground up, so to speak. He got a job working for a farmer in the Treherne area of Manitoba. Always a writer of short stories and poetry, he recorded his experiences. I grew up in a troubled […] Read more

GFM Network News

U.S. livestock: Hogs, cattle fall

U.S. grains: Wheat sets fresh eight-week low as ample global supply continues to weigh

Larger Canadian canola and wheat ending stocks expected

Columns

Toban Dyck: Ag shouldn’t play soccer when hockey is what it’s trained to play

Present and future plant disease and weed issues in the Prairies, Part 1

How to prevent tractor rollovers and runovers

Les Henry: Twenty-seven years of crops at my Dundurn farm

The benefits of irrigation in Alberta

PHOTOS: Midsummer creatures on the farm

Editor’s Column: Outside-the-box weed control

What is soil fertility?

Value investing is dead … long live value investing

Prairie Memoirs: My grandfather, the land and me

AgCanadaTV

AgCanadaTV: In case you missed it; your national ag news recap for Dec. 12, 2025

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