A couple works out a farm transition plan for three children

A couple works out a farm transition plan for three children

Farm Financial Planner: The plan includes financial security for all, including a son with a disability

A couple we’ll call Max, 86, and Lily, 81, have farmed 480 acres in western Manitoba for the last 60 years. Their eldest son, who we’ll call Sam, now 60, retired from a city job with a solid pension. Sam now farms with his parents. He is the registered co-owner of the home 320 acres […] Read more

One thing to consider from last season are any weed concerns you may have seen in your operation.

The finer details you should focus on now

Q & A with an expert

Q: I have the big picture planned for my farm in 2021. What else do I need to consider? A: The winter months may seem extra long with our current situation, but as growers we need to use this time wisely. Planning for the 2021 crop is well underway but there are many important considerations […] Read more


Toban Dyck: These changes are not judgments

Toban Dyck: These changes are not judgments

They are natural evolutions of a farming operation

I was nervous about the change. Change is never an easy thing, especially for me. I was raised in a Mennonite home and my last name, Dyck, is inextricably tied to the tradition. There is now a garbage dumpster on our farm, and we’ve already filled it once. The whole experience, though small, has been […] Read more

Self-care is about more than self-indulgence

What comes to mind when you hear the term self-care? A day of pampering at a spa? A facial or manicure? While those are commonly associated with self-care in the media, they don’t represent the full picture and only further fuel misconceptions. While a spa day may not seem to have much in common with […] Read more


As late as 1987, one big rain event did all this damage to a summerfallow field near Eastend, Sask.

Les Henry: Soil productivity, quality and health

Nature and nurture

Soil health is a prominent topic in current scientific and farm management literature. It is good to see attention being paid to the soil resource our industry depends on. In this piece, we will try to unravel some of the principles and the practical application of those principles. From the get-go, we must realize farming […] Read more

Ever feel like this? This slide was taken from the end of Mike Jubinville′s presentation.

Editor’s Column: How high will grain markets go? It doesn’t matter. The strategy of the day is incremental selling into these rising markets

From the fall of last year to today, which is Feb. 16, it has been a momentous time for grain markets. And as good as that is, Mike Jubinville, a senior markets analyst for MarketsFarm, stressed time and again during MarketsFarm’s Markets Outlook 2021 webinar last month, that incremental selling into these profitable and rising […] Read more



The photo shows NE26 Township 11 Range 11, west of Meridian 1, three miles east of Austin, Man. The soils are of the Almassippi association. The details of individual soils are all available online at Manitoba Agri-Maps at the Agrimaps website (see link at right).

Les Henry: Nitrate down the well

Quit porking on so much N

This song has been sung before in this column. With the death of babies as a possible consequence, it bears repeating. Nitrate in the environment In a native grass environment like my grandfather and yours broke up to farm, nitrate was a rare molecule. Native grass evolved by staying brown and doing nothing when it […] Read more



Zero tillage: lime it occasionally

Zero tillage: lime it occasionally

Acidification of the top few inches may inhibit cereal growth

Anything we do these days often comes with a meaningless label. For example, people say, “I am a Catholic, a Baptist, a Methodist …” but haven’t been near a church in many years. Some say, “I am right wing, left wing, green, a socialist, conservative …” but when questioned, most individuals have no definition or […] Read more