There are always outstanding questions about how farmers can use insurance, either as part of a succession plan or just a part of doing business. Here are three questions and answers. Will my family have to pay taxes? When you die, will your family have to pay taxes on your assets, as well the proceeds […] Read more
Three farm insurance Q and As
Life insurance and loan insurance is expensive. Get your money’s worth
Life insurance: defining our terms
Financial Planning: Term life. Whole life. Define your problem to choose the best plan for your farm
Life insurance often gets a bad rap. You know the stereotype: pushy salesperson trying to get you to buy something you think you don’t want or need. But for farmers and farm families, life insurance can be important for short-term needs and long-terms goals. Let’s start with laying out the definitions: term life insurance versus […] Read more
Life insurance as the key to farm succession
Farm Management: A solidly developed life insurance policy could be the key to hassle-free planning
Farmers often have something not all non-farmers have: the desire to see their lifelong work continued. Ideally, the next generation will take over, though maybe only one of your kids will stay on the farm. Land values have skyrocketed in the last 30 years and many farmers’ net worths are caught up in land values […] Read more
Putting pulses to work in your crop rotations
Soil Health: A good pulse crop can do more than fill your bank account. It also benefits the soil
Along with more pulse crops in Prairie farmers’ rotations, there has also been more research into the impact these crops have on our soil. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada researchers have recently published several research papers on this issue. This work has led one of these researchers, Dr. Chantal Hamel, to conclude that there are several […] Read more
Maintaining canola quality in grain bags
Canola acreage is up. Will you need to store some of your harvest in grain bags? Keep the quality high
Researchers from the University of Manitoba have recently published two studies on how canola fares when stored in grain bags for different periods of time. The research was done under Prairie weather conditions, funded by the Canola Council of Canada. Grain bags, sometimes called silo bags, are marketed as temporary storage solutions for farmers who […] Read more
Should you be planting green manure?
Researchers see planting and terminating ‘green manure’ as an alternative to summerfallow
Researchers at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as well as the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture have published two recent studies about the effects of green manure on farmland in the Prairies. In one study specifically, the researchers looked at using green manure as an alternative to summerfallowing. Green manure “is a crop that is specifically planted in order to be terminated, […] Read more
On-farm occupational health and safety
Some of these rules apply to your farm. Find out what you need to know
If you employ anyone other than family on your farm, you need to know that provincial occupational health and safety rules apply to you. Some farmers believe that they are exempt from these rules if they aren’t enrolled in Workers Compensation, or if they are purely a family farm with one or two employees. This […] Read more
Conquering wild oats in your fields
Tight rotations and resistant plants mean wild oats are prevalent on the Prairies
We spend more money trying to manage wild oat in Western Canada than any other weed, says Dr. Neil Harker, a weed ecology and crop management scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. “It’s a driver weed.” Here’s a bit of a refresher on wild oat, what’s new with research, and what you need to know […] Read more
Wireworm: hard to control and on the rise
Without Lindane, there’s very little that cereal growers can do to control this pest
Wireworms ruin many cereal crops, and they’ve been on the rise since the federal government banned lindane for use as a pesticide in 2004. Lindane killed the bugs outright says Dr. Bob Vernon, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), and since its banning “there is really nothing that will kill them.” “Wireworms […] Read more
Soybean cyst nematodes on the Prairies?
This yield-stealing roundworm moves with soil. And it's probably on its way to your soybean field
The soybean cyst nematode is the number one yield robber in soybean crops in Ontario and the U.S. This parasitic roundworm has been in North America since the mid-1950s, with the first detection in North Carolina, says Albert Tenuta, provincial field crop pathologist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Since then […] Read more
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