Grainews founder John Clark dies in Winnipeg

ohn Clark, the founder and first editor of Grainews, passed away Jan. 18 in Winnipeg at age 81. Born in Regina, John spent much of his early life in Kamsack, where his father Stan worked for Canada Malting. John went into plant science at the University of Saskatchewan where he received a master’s degree with […] Read more

Editor’s Column

After zipping up my warmest coat for the third day in a row, I started daydreaming about a vacation. But how much would it cost? Farm business getaways Like (almost) any farmer would, I started wondering if we could write off at least some of the costs of a trip to a sunny place this […] Read more


New corn varieties for 2013

In the November issue of “Grainews” we ran a story highlighting new corn varieties for 2013. Unfortunately, three new offerings from Hyland Seeds were accidentally left off of the list. Luckily, there’s still time for you to consider these three additional options before you make your spring seeding decisions. Hybrid: 3093 Maturity: 2250 Western CHU Traits: RR End uses: […] Read more

Editor’s column

I was concerned when my husband brought home a snowmobile for our six-year-old. Then I found out the neighbours are teaching their second-grader to weld. The snowmobile Obviously, nobody asked me first. It showed up in the back of the truck one day when my husband came home from town. I protested, but it was […] Read more


A tribute to Alf Bryan

Alf Bryan passed away on December 3, 2012 at the nursing home in Moose Jaw, Sask. Alf was a family man, farmer and political critic but he will be best remembered as the farmer from Tagaske who scribed in Grainews under the column head “I May be wrong but…” Alf ran as a Liberal in […] Read more

Editor’s column

My mother gave me a new cookbook for Christmas this year. It’s called “Good Cookin’ with the L.A.W.” No, we haven’t been reduced to selling cookbooks to fund policing in rural Saskatchewan (yet). L.A.W. is short for “Lacadena Area Women (and Friends).” Since Lacadena, the west-central Saskatchewan community where I grew up, has a population […] Read more


Editor’s column

Things are sort of slow on our farm this time of year. We’ve all settled into the fall kindergarten routine. My husband has started up his seed cleaning plant for another winter of business. I’m catching up on some bookkeeping. There’s some farm shows and meetings to get to, but not this week. And it’s […] Read more

Editor’s Column

“Yes, we’d love to come to your barbecue! But only if it’s raining.” “What? We were supposed to RSVP? Well, we’re here now! And there’s always room for one more at a wedding, right?” If you’ve found yourself saying one of those lines or something like them, maybe you’re a farmer. (Or at least married […] Read more


Lions and lambs

A fun, but not very reliable weather saying tells us: If March comes in like a lion it will go out like a lamb. It often happens that March begins cold and stormy and ends warm and balmy. People tend to think that nature, and life, always strives for a balance, which may have been […] Read more

Editor’s Column

When our phone rang at 6:45, we knew who it would be before my husband picked it up. “Just as well,” I heard my husband say. “I wasn’t looking forward to going out there to move enough snow out of the lane so you could turn around in the yard.” It was too dangerous for […] Read more