I think everyone would find agriculture endlessly interesting if they had a glimpse into how it works.

Toban Dyck: Explaining agriculture, not whining

There are lots of things about the ag sector that we wish the public knew more about

“It’s just another whining farmer wanting government to bail him out.” This was one of the responses to an article I wrote for the Financial Post. It came after a former ‘Dragon’s Den’ dragon promoted it to his audience. I’ll be honest. I got a little bit nervous about the attention. I was tagged in […] Read more

Farm Financial Planner: Estate planning for the very long term

Farm Financial Planner: Estate planning for the very long term

This tree farmer’s crop will take decades to mature, but tax planning is still key

David, a name we’re giving to a tree farmer in eastern Ontario, is 83. His wife passed away some years back. He converted a 47-acre former hay and horse farm to trees. Now there are 25,000 trees growing, a crop that, given natural mortality, he is unlikely to see mature. The trees are varied, including […] Read more


A large male wild boar — which can top 600 pounds — in a rare daytime photo. The animals tend to be nocturnal.

A boaring threat to our meat production

The growing population of wild boar on the prairies threatens livestock production


People who say they have never seen wild boar should watch the ditches at dusk from Florida to Dawson Creek. I have seen them at both locations and many places in between, and more than once avoided a disastrous collision with a wild boar. Wild boar, wild swine, Sas scrofa, Eurasian wild pig or just […] Read more

The investment world ebbs and flows with sentiment, something that holds very true when it comes to Canada’s oil and gas sector.

Investing for a positive, progressing world

Herman VanGenderen wants to assure you that the sky is not falling

Chicken Little is a famous storybook character. He (or she) had an acorn drop on his head and concluded the sky was falling. As he rushed to tell the king, he ran through the countryside yelling “the sky is falling. The sky is falling.” Along the way he collected other like-minded fowl, all yelling, “The […] Read more


It is simpler for feeding and watering to have all cows and heifers together in one area.

Harvest and haying are finally finished

Eppich News: Combining and last of the haying were a race against the weather

During the middle of October we were harvesting as much as we could. For the fields that were swathed we usually drove every grain truck and trailer out to the field in the morning, got the machines serviced, and then Gregory, John, and Joseph and I would drive the three combines. On Oct. 16 we […] Read more

August 16, 2019. Not a bad-looking crop but all stages from nearly ripe to grass green.

Les Henry: Diary of my 2019 wheat crop

This growing season was challenging, but the end result was better than expected

The 2019 crop year will go on record as one of the more challenging in a long time. In the past decade we have had a very good run of good crops — often with harvest weather that allowed long stretches where dry grain could be binned. At the same time, we have enjoyed crop […] Read more



A drone equipped with a camera can be used to check remote watering systems, scan fencelines or check gates.

Drones. How did we farm without them?

Hart Attacks: Drone school explained how flying cameras can change the cattle business

I know I shouldn’t be amazed by anything that has to do with new technology, but it seems I always am. I recently spent part of a day at a central Alberta drone school —primarily geared to beef producers — and came away thinking it just never ends. So there I was in a community […] Read more


If you still have a crop in the field and only provincial crop insurance coverage, there are a couple of things you may need to consider.

Managing your risk in a bad harvest year

Make sure you know your insurance details before you brave the snow to pick up that crop

With many crops left out in the field until spring, this fall is not how one would have planned, if you’d had a choice. What can you do to reduce your risk of losing more money if your grains are low quality and tough or damp or still out in the field? First, get an […] Read more