File photo of a Salford 5200 Enforcer tillage unit operating in corn stubble. (Salford.com)

MacDon owner Linamar to buy Salford

Linamar to pay $260M for Ontario tillage, fertilizer equipment maker

Canadian industrial equipment and parts maker Linamar, the owner of MacDon Industries, is set to further expand its reach in the ag equipment sector by buying the Salford Group. Guelph-based Linamar announced Wednesday it has an agreement in place worth $260 million to buy 100 per cent of the equity in Salford, which makes fertilizer […] Read more

(Greg Berg photo)

StatsCan predicts more Canadian wheat acres, less canola in 2022

Lentil, corn, soy acres are also expected up from 2021, barley down

MarketsFarm — Canada’s farmers intend to seed more acres to wheat and less to canola in 2022, according to the first survey-based estimates from Statistics Canada for the upcoming crop year released Tuesday. Canola area is forecast at 20.9 million acres by the government agency, which would be down by seven per cent from the […] Read more


(Video screengrab from CBSA-asfc.gc.ca)

U.S. extends COVID vaccine requirements for non-citizens at land borders

U.S. agribusinesses still seeking exemptions for cross-border truckers

Washington | Reuters — The United States government said Thursday it’s extending a requirement that non-U.S. citizens crossing land or ferry terminals at the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico borders must be vaccinated against the coronavirus. The requirements were first adopted in November as part of reopening the United States to land crossings by foreign tourists after […] Read more

A farm worker unloads Ukrainian-made fertilizer from a truck on April 5, 2022 to use on a wheat field near the village of Yakovlivka, outside Kharkiv, after it was hit by an aerial bombardment. (Photo: Reuters/Thomas Peter)

Farming behind the lines: Ukraine’s farmers sow amidst wreckage

Despite their best efforts, however, famine looms as war rages

In early April, Ukrainian soldiers expelled the Russian invaders from the northern regions of Ukraine: Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. The wounded enemy left, leaving behind burned-out war machines and the unburied corpses of his soldiers. However, the invaders managed to do a lot of damage. Many of you are probably aware of the atrocities […] Read more



In Alberta, kochia patches could form in new parts of the field or neighbouring fields where tumbleweeds may have blown, says AAFC’s Shaun Sharpe. Approaches and compacted areas may also be potential areas of invasion and spread as well as along roadsides, grid roads and field margins and around sloughs. Weed specialist Clark Brenzil highly recommends preventing the growth of kochia by planting perennial forages in ditches and even in saline (or otherwise non-productive) areas in fields.

Weed issues to watch in 2022

How different factors, such as moisture, temperature, herbicide resistance and others, may affect weed populations this year

After a series of dry years on the Prairies — with 2021 being driest of all — the provincial weed outlook for 2022 is varied across Western Canada and field to field. From kochia invading new territory to a possible increase of overwintering weeds — such as later-emerging false cleavers, Canada thistle, shepherd’s purse and […] Read more


A custom hauler spreads dairy manure on hay ground using a Husky 18000L Slimline liquid manure spreader on a farm at Wallenstein, Ont., north of Kitchener, in the spring of 2018. (Husky Farm Equipment handout photo via Reuters)

No poop for you: Manure supplies run short as fertilizer prices soar

Ontario honeywagon maker all sold out

Chicago | Reuters — For nearly two decades, Abe Sandquist has used every marketing tool he can think of to sell the back end of a cow. Poop, after all, needs to go somewhere. The Midwestern entrepreneur has worked hard to woo farmers on its benefits for their crops. Now, facing a global shortage of […] Read more

(Lightspeedshutter/iStock/Getty Images)

Advance Payments Program to offer 100 per cent up front

Feds temporarily waive 60 per cent up-front limit

Canadian farmers seeking pre-production cash advances under the federal Advance Payments Program ahead of this year’s spring seeding will be able to get the entire eligible amount up front. Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau on Wednesday announced a “temporary waiving” of the program’s usual requirement that pre-production cash advances be issued in instalments of 60 […] Read more


(Alfio Manciagli/iStock/Getty Images)

Australian canola production heading downward, but still sizeable

New second-biggest harvest expected, USDA predicts

MarketsFarm — Despite canola production in Australia being set to drop 26 per cent in 2022-23, the country’s farmers are still projected to harvest the second largest crop, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s attaché in Canberra. In the attaché’s report, released Monday, canola production for the coming crop year was projected to be […] Read more