(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Alberta offers equivalency plan, grants for aspiring truckers

Province to cut Class 1 qualifying time for Class 3 drivers

The Alberta government plans to reduce the entry fees — and the time required — for some drivers wanting to level up to become Class 1 truckers. Provincial Transportation Minister Ric McIver on Nov. 26 announced a new “Experience and Equivalency” program that’s expected to reduce the time required for Class 3 drivers to upgrade […] Read more

CupWheels are now available for tractors, skid steers and combines.

CupWheel moves toward fuller market availability

Inverted sidewall tire advances from prototype to market

In 2013, while walking the aisles of the Agritechnica machinery show in Germany, I happened upon a unique-looking tractor tire called the PneuTrac from the company Galileo Wheel out of Israel. Its design turned conventional tire technology on its head. An inverted sidewall, the ability to run with little or no air pressure and a […] Read more


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference on COVID-19 response on Nov. 6, 2020 in Ottawa. (File photo: Reuters/Patrick Doyle)

U.S. border restrictions to last a long time yet, Trudeau says

COVID would need to be 'significantly more under control'

Ottawa | Reuters — Canada will not agree to lifting a ban on non-essential travel with the United States until the coronavirus outbreak is significantly under control around the world, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday. Trudeau’s comments were a clear indication that the border restrictions will last well into 2021. The two neighbours […] Read more

AGCO is testing the effect of tire inflation pressures on crop growth with its new Fendt Momentum planter.

High tire inflation pressures stunt plant development

AGCO Crop Tour demonstrates tire pressure’s effect on crop growth

Two years ago, AGCO media relations staff introduced Jason Lee at a press event at the AGCO assembly plant in Jackson, Minn. He was the company’s new agronomist and farm solutions specialist and his job — among other things — was to measure the brand’s equipment designs’ effects on crop production. That data, he said, […] Read more


A CNH manufacturing plant at Sorocaba, west of Sao Paulo in southeastern Brazil. (Photo courtesy CNH Industrial)

CNH to work with Microsoft, Accenture on ‘smart’ vehicles

Milan | Reuters — CNH Industrial has set up a five-year collaboration with Microsoft and Accenture to help it to develop “smart” and connected industrial vehicles, the Italian-American vehicle and equipment maker said on Monday. The programme, part of CNH Industrial’s digital transformation plans, is expected to help the group “achieve significant revenue growth,” the […] Read more

Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland appears at a news conference in Ottawa on Sept. 24, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Blair Gable)

More farmers expected to benefit from new CEBA eligibility expansion

Businesses operating via personal accounts to now be eligible

The latest tweak to the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) pandemic aid program is expected to allow farmers who run their business via personal bank accounts to seek CEBA loans. Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced Monday that “as early as” Oct. 26, CEBA will be available to businesses which until now have been operating […] Read more


(Video screengrab from Alberta Agriculture and Forestry via YouTube)

Federal fund, Alberta government back irrigation upgrades

Infrastructure Bank lends cash for system improvements

Eight irrigation districts in Alberta are set to tap into the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s new $1.5 billion pool of funding earmarked for irrigation, to receive loans worth about $407.5 million. The Alberta and federal governments on Friday announced a total investment of $815 million — including repayable CIB funds, provincial support and irrigation district contributions […] Read more

The new baler offers more efficient baling in the field, fewer bales per field, more tons per trailer, and savings in both time and transport costs.

New Holland’s BigBaler 340 High Density offers efficiencies and cost savings

The new baler produces ultra-dense square bales

There’s not a hay producer anywhere who would complain about producing too much hay. That said, the reality of hay’s bulkiness is it can be a logistical and trucking challenge. Enter New Holland Agriculture’s BigBaler 340 High Density, which produces large square bales with up to 22 per cent higher density than conventional square balers. […] Read more


Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over the southern Pacific for the week centred on Sept, 30, 2020. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

La Nina to bring colder, drier winter

MarketsFarm — There’s a La Nina poised to exert influence on the coming North American winter, according to Drew Lerner, senior agricultural meteorologist for World Weather Inc. in Kansas. A La Nina generates colder-than-normal temperatures, as opposed to the warm temperatures garnered from an El Nino. Both weather phenomenon can be found over the Pacific […] Read more

File photo of a quality control check on fresh peppers in a Canadian vegetable packing plant. (Jeffbergen/E+Getty Images)

Federal program to protect farms, workers from COVID-19 underway

'Highest-risk' farming operations to get priority, Bibeau says

Applications are now open for a federally-administered $35 million emergency on-farm support fund to help limit the impacts of COVID-19 on farms and on-farm workers. Aimed at farm workplaces and employee living quarters, the fund is being managed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), but cost-shared with participating producers at a 50-50 level. Money is […] Read more