At CropSphere in Saskatoon in January, Tom Wolf warned that dicamba can cause issues with sensitive crops — whether due to sprayer cleanout issues or from drift. We’d better be prepared to deal with it, since we’re going to be seeing it more often. Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans are resistant to both glyphosate […] Read more
Dealing with dicamba
Editor’s Column: What’s the value of our time?
These are action-packed days in the world of ag commodity groups. Funding cuts at the Canola Council, office doors closing at the Flax Council and a collection of Manitoba commodity groups discussing merging into one mega-organization. There are a lot of things happening. Yet when I attended a few of the Saskatchewan commodity group AGMs […] Read more
Farmers Edge to use data to edge into insurance sector
Farmers Edge has signed a four-year agreement with global reinsurance company PartnerRe to bring precision farming technology together with ag insurance. Under the agreement announced this week, the two companies plan to work together to develop new insurance products for the agricultural market. While Canadian farmers have access to government-run, subsidized crop insurance programs, as […] Read more
Get your crayons ready, it’s contest time!
Jason Sylvestre, co-author of the great “You Might Be From The Prairies If…” cartoons that we usually run on Page 4 of Grainews, has published a colouring book of hand-drawn Saskatchewan pictures. Jason’s book is called Colour Saskatchewan. You can buy it from your favourite on-line retailer for under $17. Or, you can win a […] Read more
Getting ready for a dry year
Both of these photos were taken from the same spot in the back of our yard in southeast Saskatchewan in January. The one above is from 2017, the one below is from 2018. While that huge 2017 snow pile was a result of a lot of drifting and didn’t leave as much moisture in the […] Read more
Is private crop insurance a fit for your farm?
Two Sask.-based companies are in the market. Find out how their products work
We’re used to dealing with private sector hail insurance companies, or at least seeing their ads. Now two companies, both based in Moose Jaw, Sask., are offering private crop insurance products to cover grain farmers’ risk. You might wonder how private companies could compete against a government-run Crop Insurance program where premiums are government subsidized to the tune […] Read more
Trelleborg tires: Tracks, tech and tailor-made
Italy-based Trelleborg execs announced new tire products at Agritechnica
The Italy-based Trelleborg may not be the first company Western Canadian farmers think of when it comes to tractor tires. However, Trelleborg’s subsidiary, Mitas (based in the Czech Republic), is a major tire supplier to John Deere, Case New Holland and AGCO and has opened two U.S. factories. Overall, Trelleborg bills itself as the “world […] Read more
Editor’s Column: The Tractor of the Year
This November I took my first trip to Agritechnica, the farm machinery show in Germany. Both of the days I was at the show were “Preview” days — days at the beginning of the week when admission is more expensive, there are smaller crowds, and a higher share of people are wearing business suits rather […] Read more
The annual rebate roundup: 2018
Get the most for your hard-earned input dollars by understanding these cash-back plans
Once again, it’s time for the Grainews annual rebate roundup. We’ve talked to experts at 11 different companies to ask what they’re offering in the way of cash-back savings for the 2018 growing season. Three of these companies have no special rebate programs, some have simple programs, and some companies have rebate programs with so […] Read more
What’s the price of that crop input?
Everyone likes a rebate. Cash-back cheques are nice to have, but we know they don’t have a lot of influence over your purchasing decisions. It would be much more helpful if you could turn to these pages and see the actual product prices. I’m sure you’ve noticed that most news stories about improved fungicides, newly-registered […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
