At first glance the Case 4530 is a strange-looking contraption. It seems to be an awkward combination of a sprayer and a tractor. As it turns out, the “floater,” as it’s commonly called, is anything but awkward. Rather, its 70-foot boom and latest and greatest GPS make it well suited for the job it was […] Read more
Floating your fall fertilizer
With new fertilizer products on the market and new machinery available, fall-applied fertilizer could be your solution
The wheat midge refuge
The pest is small, but the losses it can cause are great. Lucikly the midge tolerant wheat introduced across the Prairies in 2010 has the potential to keep the midge population in check. Wheat midge can be found in most regions that produce wheat, and the Canadian Prairies are no exception. At half the size […] Read more
Thousand kernel weight
Still seeding “a bushel and a half” per acre? Try moving to 1,000 kernel weight calculation for more precise seeding rates
Every spring Prairie farmers wait to head to the field to begin spring seeding. The drill is ready to go, and the seed is loaded. The seeding equipment heading to the field has likely been updated from 20 years ago, but has the amount of seed needed calculation also been updated? What’s in a bushel? […] Read morePre-book seed
In the middle of a cold Prairie winter, leaving your worries behind with a winter vacation sounds like a good idea. One worry some farmers hitting the beach this winter will be leaving behind is what to plant next spring, as they have pre-purchased their seed before catching their flight. “Book early,” says Bret Gaetz, […] Read more
Cleaning up contaminants
All farmers fear contaminated soil. New clean up processes help bring contaminated land back to its original state
I spent last winter, on my way to the rink, driving past a mountain of dirt being processed by various machines. It looked very labourious and complicated The grapevine reported that there had been an oil spill, and cleaning it up involved digging up the contaminated dirt, and “cooking” the oil out of it. A […] Read moreDeciding to incorporate
Many farmers have already made the decision to incorporate. If you’re still on the fence, here are six potential benefits to consider
Farming has been in the family for generations. The farm you’re operating started out with only a few acres, but over the years it’s expanded. When your grandfather owned the farm, it was organized as a sole proprietorship. Now, you’re grappling with the decision to incorporate — to create a new legal entity for the […] Read moreEffective rodent control
One day, years ago, I returned home from university to the apartment I shared with three roommates, to find every chair we owned arranged across the entire floor like stepping stones. We had a mouse. I, the farm girl, fearless of all savage beasts, was directed to “Get rid of it!” Getting rid of one […] Read more
Stewardship program ending
Federal funding for the Farm Stewardship Program is slated to end on March 31, 2013. In most provinces, there’s still time to find out if this program has anything to offer your farm. The Farm Stewardship Program has been in place since 2005, as a federal program delivered by provincial counterparts. The program is slightly […] Read more
Weed control after a flood
Many farmers saw flooded acres in 2011. Special care will be needed to control weeds and manage these fields this year
It may only occur every 300 years, but farmers in southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba spent 2011 dealing with the worst flood since the West was settled. An estimated six million acres in the two provinces went unseeded due to the flooding. Even though waterlogged fields could not be planted, they were anything but barren, and now […] Read moreCyber-Savvy Farmer
