Editor’s Rant: Doing their best to adjust

Editor’s Rant: Doing their best to adjust

After reading through all the stories Lee Hart has compiled for you about Canada’s latest crop of Outstanding Young Farmers, I’m more convinced than ever of the OYF program’s value — not just to its immediate participants and alumni but to other farmers and everyone else. If you’d rather read them right away, I won’t […] Read more

It’s not unreasonable for parents who’ve spent decades building an operation to hope that a successor is committed for the long haul.

How to talk about ‘fair family price’ for land, other assets

Seeds of Encouragement: A family farm transfer likely involves some gifting, given the market values for farmland

Elaine writes: “Fair family price” versus “fair market value price” (or FFP vs. FMV) is often a tense conversation between a farm’s founders, needing to sell assets for their personal income stream, and a buyer, often the cash-strapped successor on the farm. To offer readers some wisdom on this conversation I asked our coaching teammate […] Read more


Once calves are weaned, there are options for when they can be marketed.

Pencil out the investment in a background feeding program

Better Bunks and Pastures: Knowing the numbers can help dictate whether calves should be sold or retained

As most of the leaves have fallen, many spring calves are being weaned. It’s also the time when many people determine whether their weaned calves are immediately sold or held back for further feeding. Record-high prices, especially on the weaned calf side of the market, should have everyone penciling out the feasibility of continued backgrounding […] Read more

Memories of a great Albertan

Practical Research: Fifteen years after his passing, Joseph Gurba's long reach through the province’s farming history remains

I was offered the position of provincial plant pathologist for Alberta Agriculture by Joe Gurba, head of the crop protection branch, in August 1974. I was at the time an assistant professor at the University of Guelph, more interested in rugby coaching than in basic plant disease research. Joe told me the provincewide position would […] Read more


Governments have only a limited amount of sway over markets at large but can influence investor sentiment on different sectors, such as health care or alternative energy.

Is it best, when investing, to stay politically agnostic?

Investing for Fun and Profit: Besides, how much influence do governments really have on the markets?

I began this column the day after the great Harris/Trump debate. Based on the publishing schedule, you might be reading it just before the U.S. election. A lot can happen in both politics and the markets over a six-week period, but I thought it would be an appropriate time to review how politics may or […] Read more

Editors spent a week with Kubota’s RTV-XG850 Rancher Special Edition model to see how it would fit into a typical farm operation.

We review the Kubota RTV-XG850

Grainews’ practical test puts the new ‘full size’ UTV through its paces

In September, Glacier FarmMedia editors had a chance to spend a few days with one of Kubota’s newest side-by-sides, an RTV-XG850 Rancher Special Edition. Kubota calls this model line its “full size” UTVs. The XG850 model comes in five different variations. The Rancher Special Edition offers a sort of mid- to higher-range level of features, […] Read more


Small paper envelopes stored in a closed glass jar in a cool dark space is an ideal containment method.

Harvest, part 3: Saving seeds

First We Eat: Select the best from your fall harvest to bring forward in spring

Some years ago, I went on a road trip — a research tour for a book I envisioned writing about small-scale organic and sustainable farmers in Western Canada. I drove from my home in Calgary through the mountains into the verdant interior valleys of B.C., then west to the coast, to Vancouver Island and up […] Read more

Gentle yoga practices can help maintain whole-body movement and can be adjusted to avoid discomfort.

How to prepare for joint replacement surgery

Fit to Farm: 'Pre-hab' can help your body recover more quickly

Whether due to trauma or degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis, joint replacement procedures are common options for managing movement limitations and pain. Joint replacement surgeries are among the most common procedures for which I help clients prepare and recover. The most common joints to replace are knees and hips, often from long-term degeneration. In these […] Read more


Joseph and Reba check the pasture and the cows together.

Trips to pasture become adventure time

Eppich News: The weather was good for getting off hay and harvest has commenced

Mid-August was warm with almost no rain. On Aug. 10 Gregory started cutting our hay over at Landis. On the 13th I started baling at Landis while Gregory continued to cut ahead of me. It was drying very nicely and so I was able to bale what he had cut just two days before. On […] Read more

The John Deere 535 baler that burned at the Eppich farm.

Counting one’s blessings after our baler burns

Eppich News: A baler fire is a reminder to be prepared and understand what to do in an emergency

On Sept. 5, our John Deere 535 baler went up in smoke. It is a big hit for our small operation, but we have much to be thankful for. As farmers we do dangerous things every day. Every day we are just going to go swath the wheat, or we are just going to combine, […] Read more