Features & Production Tips

Can your cash flow handle new farm machinery payments?

Hidden profit robbers, Part 2: Real numbers on new and used machinery

By Art Lange January 12, 2021

In this series of articles, I am identifying some profit robbers I have noticed in my 16 years of farm business consulting in Alberta. In Part 1 of this series, I identified depreciation on farm machinery as a significant profit robber. Since depreciation doesn’t affect your bank balance, it is easily overlooked. High loan payments […] Read more

Drones can be used for all kinds of on-farm trials. Pictured above is a drone image to evaluate standability in a wheat variety trial.

Equipment, Features

Twelve uses for your drone

From flood documentation to weed control, farmers are putting their drones to good use

By Angela Lovell January 11, 2021

When remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), or drones, first started appearing on the market, it was thought their uses in agriculture would be mainly limited to third-party companies farmers would hire to fly over their fields and to analyze and provide information collected by those drones. However, today it is mainly farmers purchasing and using […] Read more

Markus Weber, president of LandView Drones, is flying a small, portable MAVIC 2 Zoom drone, which he says is an ideal drone for farmers to start with.

Equipment, Features

Tips to help you choose your first drone

Where to begin your drone search, resources and costs

By Angela Lovell January 11, 2021

Markus Weber answers questions about drones all the time. He is president of Landview Drones and he runs an Ag Drone School to help farmers get started with, and get the most out of, their drones. For less than $3,000, farmers can dip their toes into the drone arena. “When they’re starting out, most farmers […] Read more

There were many unhealthy-looking plants with blackened stems that had developed cankers near the soil surface. The plants were also suffering from premature stalk drydown.

Canola, Crops, Features

Crop advisor casebook: Canola shelling out while swathing

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the January 5, 2020 issue of Grainews

By Ty Moffat January 4, 2021

Jeff is a farmer located near Brandon, Man., who grows canola, wheat and soybeans. He was out swathing a canola field in early September when he decided he should give me a call. The crop, which was at 70 per cent seed colour change, appeared to be shelling out while it was being cut and […] Read more

Improperly cleaned spray booms create a V-shaped pattern of crop damage when starting a new field requiring a different herbicide.

Equipment, Features, Machinery

How recirculating booms can help slow herbicide resistance

AGCO demonstrates value of new sprayer tech with crop tour

By Scott Garvey December 17, 2020

Just a few years ago, herbicide resistance in weeds was something that seemed like a distant concern, something occurring elsewhere; however, it should be no surprise to anyone that today the International Survey of Herbicide-Resistant Weeds, which is a collaborative effort between weed scientists in more than 80 countries, says that is no longer true. […] Read more

Features, Machinery

John Deere introduces the LS20 Frontier mounted sprayer

By Scott Garvey December 17, 2020

Virtually every farm needs to control weed growth around bin yards, ditches and other areas that are impossible to get a regular field sprayer into, especially if there are infestations of noxious weeds or those that pose a particular problem for livestock, such as burdock. Using a mounted sprayer on a UTV or utility tractor […] Read more

Since machinery is a depreciating asset, the author recommends minimizing that investment and maximizing investment in appreciating assets.

Equipment, Features, Machinery

Depreciation and farm machinery, a rule of thumb

Hidden profit robbers, Part 1

By Art Lange December 15, 2020

In my farm financial talks, I usually ask, “What’s the biggest cost in owning any piece of machinery?” In this case, I’ve already given you the answer but surprisingly some people don’t seem to be aware of that. In my 16 years of consulting farmers, I’ve noticed the old expression “guys (and gals) love their […] Read more

The durum stand was thin and uneven, with numerous bare rows as well as areas that had lots of sickly-looking plants. Where germinated plants had emerged, many of them were turning yellow and were starting to wilt, particularly the larger three-leaf plants.

Cereals, Crops, Features

Crop advisor casebook: Durum wheat mystery revealed

A Crop Advisor's Solution from the December 1, 2020 issue of Grainews

By Austen Preete December 3, 2020

David runs a grain operation about 30 kilometres southwest of Moose Jaw, Sask., growing durum wheat, canola and lentils on his 4,500-acre farm. In the third week of June, I got a call from the producer saying his durum crop was doing poorly. David told me the durum stand was thin and uneven, with numerous […] Read more

Features, Machinery

Need for speed driving popularity of high-speed disks

HSDs help make tillage operations go faster in a world where time is of the essence

By Jeff Melchior November 30, 2020

Ask a group of experts what producers are looking for in new tillage equipment today and the most common answer will likely be “speed.” In this case, that means the ability to get tillage operations finished quickly with as few passes as possible. But speed only tells part of the story. The bigger picture behind […] Read more

“Whether it’s on thumb drives, on a monitor in the combine, on a computer or in a software program, getting that data into one place so you can see it together, analyze it together and make decisions based off of the entire picture is the first step.” – Derek Freitag.

Crops, Features

How to get the most out of the data you collect

Overcome the top data usage and analysis hurdles

By Angela Lovell November 26, 2020

While farmers and their agronomists or crop advisors have the ability to collect all kinds of data using precision agriculture tools, few farmers are analyzing and interpreting the data and developing solutions themselves, which begs the question, why? One of the first challenges is data is housed in many different places, says Derek Freitag, market […] Read more

GFM Network News

U.S. livestock: CME cattle fall on profit-taking

U.S. grains: Soybeans rebound as market weighs China prospects

B.C. ostrich owner condemns violence near embattled farm

Features