Establishment of a cover crop will reduce evaporation in the spring.

Soil health and cover crops

Q & A with an expert

Q: What are the challenges associated with fall cover crops and are the benefits worth the effort?  A: The simple answer is cover crops will improve your soil health. Cover crops reduce soil erosion, improve nutrient cycling and provide a living biosphere for beneficial soil micro-organisms. The challenging followup questions include: Will cover crops work […] Read more

A side view of Trimble’s EZ-Pilot Pro guidance system mounted on a tractor’s steering column. (Agriculture.trimble.com)

Trimble dealer shores up cross-Canada coverage

Vantage Canada picks up Ontario rights

The company handling sales and service for Trimble precision ag technology across most of Canada has reached a deal to handle the rest of it. Vantage Canada announced Friday it has bought the Trimble dealership rights and assets for Ontario from Premier Equipment, a John Deere dealership chain with nine locations in the province’s southern […] Read more


Technology updates on the 2022 GMC Sierra 1500 pickup, due to be released this fall, are expected to include a new version of Super Cruise, a hands-free driving feature for use on “divided and compatible” highways. (Media.gm.ca)

GM says chip situation improving

All of automaker's pickup truck plants operating

Reuters — Top U.S. automaker General Motors said on Friday the semiconductor chip shortage that has hit production at automakers worldwide was abating, while reporting its first quarterly sales fall in a year. “As we look to the fourth quarter, a steady flow of vehicles held at plants will continue to be released to dealers,” […] Read more

Toban and Jamie Dyck in front of the Souris River, which runs through the town and is a feature the community is proud of and has invested in. There were walkways, a park and tourist-oriented infrastructure built around the relatively wide river.

Toban Dyck: Adventure found in the most unexpected place

Jamie and I explore the wild side of Souris, Manitoba

I joked to my dad that I don’t think we’ve ever harvested so many acres in one day. He assured me this was not something to brag about. We didn’t put our combine in road gear, but we’ve never harvested wheat at those speeds before. This column isn’t about that, though. It’s about the community […] Read more


Country Guide becomes an historical record

Nearly 50 years of magazines goes into university archives

If you were one of perhaps hundreds of western Canadian farmers who found their farms featured on the pages of Country Guide magazine between 1974 and about 2003, you are literally in the history books now. Your story and photos — whether it be fact or fiction— are now preserved for all time in the […] Read more

The Garden City container terminal at Savannah is operated by Ports America on behalf of the Georgia Ports Authority. (Photo courtesy Georgia Ports Authority)

Canada’s CPPIB to buy major U.S. port terminal operator

Canada Pension Plan's play furthers its infrastructure push

Reuters — Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) said on Wednesday it had agreed to buy Ports America, one of the largest marine terminal operators in the U.S., from investment firm Oaktree Capital Management. While no valuation was given in the announcement, the deal values Ports America at over US$4 billion, according to two sources […] Read more


(Video screengrab via FirebirdMills.com)

Ardent Mills to buy further into gluten-free

Company plans deal for North Dakota pulse miller Firebird

A major North American flour miller plans to stretch its reach further into the gluten-free milling market with a deal for a North Dakota processor. Ardent Mills said Monday it plans to buy the assets of Firebird Artisan Mills, which processes pulses and specialty grains at Harvey, N.D., about 240 km south of Brandon, Man. […] Read more

File photo of equipment tracks over a field in England. (Georgeclerk/E+/Getty Images)

Regulations on gene-edited crops to be eased in England

London | Reuters — Britain’s farming and environment minister George Eustice announced Wednesday that regulations related to gene editing in agricultural research would be eased in England following a public consultation. Rules will now largely be aligned with conventional breeding methods for research and development into plants although scientists will still be required to notify […] Read more


Farmers plant saplings in a rice field on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India on July 5, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Amit Dave)

India unveils new rice variety to reduce water use, labour

New Delhi | Reuters — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched an array of new high-yielding crop varieties, including herbicide-tolerant rice that can be directly sown into the soil, cutting expenditure on water and farm workers. In India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, the conventional method of rice cultivation requires farmers to sow […] Read more

It was Yamily Zavala’s enthusiasm and commitment to the idea and the support of local farmers, businesses and other institutions that made the CARA Soil Health Lab a reality. Zavala studied and worked in Venezuela, where she was born and raised, and later earned a PhD in soil and plant nutrition from Cornell University. She has spent a good part of her working life studying the soil ecosystem.

Soil studies just for the “health” of it

Alberta lab teaches farmers to be soil health investigators

[UPDATED: Oct. 6, 2021] Farmers spend a lot of time working in and on the soil. As the holder of crop nutrients and, hopefully, water, soil is literally the foundation for growing crops, although under extremely dry conditions, it may seem like just so much dirt. But aside from what a soil analysis might tell […] Read more