Charles Baron and partners brought FBN to Canada in 2017, buying Saskatchewan-based Yorkton Distributors. (FBN video screengrab via YouTube)

FBN cuts yearly membership fee to zero

Ag e-commerce firm offers free accounts to farmers

E-marketplace Farmers Business Network (FBN) has disposed of the annual membership fee that allowed members access to its various buying groups and services. California-based FBN, which has operated in the U.S. since 2014 and expanded to Canada in 2017, announced Tuesday (Sept. 15) its farmer members may now have “access to a select range of […] Read more

Jason McNaughton says Sollio Agriculture specialists will continue to work closely with swine, dairy and poultry producers.

Sollio Agriculture name comes west

Larger company strengths livestock nutrition business

Western Canadian livestock producers will be seeing a new name at various retailers across the West as the long-operating Standard Nutrition Canada is replaced with the Sollio Agriculture name. Based in Quebec, but now with a reach across the country, Sollio Agriculture is a co-op-structured company providing a wide range of crop input and livestock […] Read more


A farmer walks through a field of maize near Chikuni in the south of Zambia on Feb. 21, 2015. (Photo: Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi)

U.S. farming body, Zambian firm partner aim to boost crop yields

Country rebuilding drought-battered ag sector

Lusaka | Reuters — A U.S. non-profit organization has launched a US$40 million joint venture with one of Zambia’s top farm suppliers to boost crop yields and food security as farmers struggle to access finance amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the local company said on Sunday. The chairman of African Green Resources (AGR), Zuneid Yousuf, said […] Read more

How to maximize the efficacy of your crop protection products

How to maximize the efficacy of your crop protection products

For starters, ensure you have adequate water quality

No farmers want to unintentionally alter the efficacy of their crop protection products because of water quality pumped into the tank. However, farmers may do just that if they do not have their farm water source tested every year and take the appropriate actions based on the results of those tests. There are several factors […] Read more


Probe eyes possibility of ‘co-ordinated behaviour’ in Big Ag

Competition Bureau probes majors' response to FBN's Canadian launch

Canada’s Competition Bureau is investigating leading agriculture companies for allegedly attempting to drive a California-based online farm-supply retailer out of the Canadian market. Documents filed in Federal Court show Federated Co-operatives, Cargill, Winfield United Canada, Univar Canada, BASF Canada Inc., Corteva and Bayer CropScience (and, by extension, Monsanto Canada) are all under investigation. Investigators with […] Read more

Finding the fit for premium fertilizer products

Finding the fit for premium fertilizer products

Good for reducing the environmental footprint, crop production and management

Enhanced efficiency fertilizer (EEF) products that provide a range of benefits in terms of crop production and management, as well as environmental benefits, are likely to play an increasingly important role in coming years of Western Canadian crop production, says Mario Tenuta, a University of Manitoba soil scientist. The products, with familiar brand names such […] Read more


Dow Fertilizer’s Onoway, Alta. facility. (CropManagement.com)

Alberta’s Crop Management Network expands reach

A crop input dealer northwest of Edmonton is the newest link in the Crop Management Network ag retail chain. CMN, whose chain includes retailers in seven other central Alberta communities, said Thursday it has purchased the assets of Dow Fertilizer, which operates sites at Onoway and Mayerthorpe, effective Jan. 9. “We are very excited to […] Read more

Louis Dreyfus’ grain elevator at Joffre, Alta., northeast of Red Deer. (LDC.com)

P+H to buy Louis Dreyfus’ Prairie elevators

Updated — Commodities and agrifood giant Louis Dreyfus Co. is stepping out of the grain handling business it built in Canada with a deal to sell its Prairie elevator network. Louis Dreyfus (LDC) announced Wednesday it has an agreement in place to sell its 10 elevators across Western Canada to Winnipeg grain company Parrish and […] Read more


(ThompsonsLimited.com)

Sylvite set to buy Thompsons agronomy business

Ontario grain and bean handler Thompsons Ltd. is set to sell its crop agronomy business to a retail business partner in that province. U.S. grain firm The Andersons, the owner of Thompsons since January, announced Tuesday in its second-quarter report it plans to sell Thompsons’ “agronomy assets” to Burlington, Ont.-based Sylvite Holdings. Financial terms of […] Read more

Some modern agricultural practices are reducing stable organic matter and driving many soils to be bacterially dominated.

Bacterial-based soils: addicted to crop inputs

Adding high-quality carbon to our soils can make farming more fun and profitable


Soils everywhere in the world consist of air, minerals, water and organic matter. Where the difference occurs is in the composition of soil in different places. As agricultural producers, we can only really manage the organic matter. In a conference this winter, Jay Fuhrer, a conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Bismarck, North […] Read more