Proper machine maintenance, cleaning and monitoring can help reduce the incidence of combine fires during harvest.

Take steps to prevent combine fires in sunflowers

In warm, dry, windy weather, cleaning, monitoring and maintenance become even more important

Row-crop harvest is in full swing across North Dakota, with many crops near completion. Weather conditions have been extremely warm and dry, allowing producers to harvest crops without the pressure to get the grains harvested before winter arrives. However, dry and warm conditions increase the risk of combine fires — especially when harvesting sunflowers. In […] Read more

A late-October cornfield in southeastern Manitoba. Photo: Geralyn Wichers

Prairie forecast: Warmer weather to continue

Forecast issued Oct. 30, covering Oct. 30 to Nov. 6, 2024

For this forecast period, as we work into what's often the first month of winter across the Prairies, it looks like the current warmer and drier-than-average pattern of the last two months will continue. Now, to be fair, we need to realize that we are transitioning into winter. Average temperatures are cooling, so though the forecasting is calling for above-average temperatures, those temperatures are getting cooler and cooler.


(Keeperofthezoo/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie forecast: Mild pattern trying to hold on

This forecast starts with an area of low pressure over northern Ontario and a resulting push of cool air over the eastern half of the Prairies. Over the western half of the Prairies, a weak ridge of high pressure is moving in. This will bring sunny skies and average or above average temperatures.

When stock water levels drop, a solar water system can help extend the quantity and preserve quality in the remaining water.

Prepare your ranch and business plan for bouts with drought

A Little Bit Western: There are ways to extend feed and water — but do so with caution and monitoring

In late summer I was invited to the Canadian Beef Industry Conference in Saskatoon to share my perspective on navigating drought. I would prefer covering a more cheerful topic, but as a fourth-generation Palliser Triangle dweller who resides on a ranch abandoned not once but twice by its former occupants, I’ll admit I’ve got experience […] Read more


(WPohlDesign/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie forecast: No snow – yet

Forecast issued Oct. 16, covering Oct. 16 to 23, 2024

As we work our way towards winter, we'll eventually have to start talking about snow... but it looks like that type of weather is at least another week away. Instead, the models show unseasonably warm weather continuing across much of the Prairies over this forecast period.



File photo of cattle on pasture northeast of Calgary. (James_Gabbert/iStock/Getty Images)

Prairie forecast: Mild temperatures to continue

Forecast issued Oct. 9, covering Oct. 9 to 16, 2024

As this forecast period starts, the Prairies are feeling the effects of an upper ridge as it slowly slides eastwards and breaks down thanks due to low-pressure tracking over the ridge. Here is where things get interesting. Overall, the models have consistently shown an area of low-pressure tracking over the ridge late this week and over the weekend. This low is forecasted to drop southeastwards and deepen dramatically.

Raspberries in the patch are a thorny affair, so wear protection to minimize scratches.

Harvest, Part 2: Cherries and peaches and berries, oh my

First We Eat: In the sudden absence of B.C. fruits, our own local produce is even more precious

We live a long way from peach country, the wine-and-fruit-specialist Okanagan and Similkameen valleys in B.C.’s deep south. Those two B.C. valleys are home to twice as many fruit growers as Ontario and Quebec combined, and StatCan sets the province’s fruit production at over $450 million annually. Each summer, one fruit grower, Little Quail Orchard […] Read more



Some biostimulant products are meant to help see crops through environmental stressors such as unusual cold or heat.

Biologicals aren’t the silver bullet

The products can be complements, not replacements, for other inputs

Glacier FarmMedia — Biological products have been touted as replacements for synthetic chemistry and fertilizer in crop production, but that may be a false promise. According to one pitch, if farmers add biological X to the soil, they can cut nitrogen rates by 15 pounds per acre. According to another, biological Y can control a […] Read more