U.S. President Donald Trump addresses a meeting of the National Space Council in the East Room of the White House in Washington on June 18. (Photo: Reuters/Leah Millis)

Trump’s tariff war threatens to erode support of farmers

Chicago | Reuters — President Donald Trump’s tariff battle with key buyers of U.S. apples, soybeans and corn threatens the support of some of his biggest backers — U.S. farmers now seeing their livelihoods in jeopardy. Farmers overwhelmingly supported Trump in the 2016 election, welcoming how he championed rural economies and vowed to repeal estate […] Read more

farm equipment seeding

Review pre-signed contracts after seeding

Once your crop is in the ground, revise your marketing plan to suit 2017 conditions

Last spring I wrote about the dry spring weather and how to set up a marketing plan that would work for your farm regardless of what the weather did for the rest of the year. Now I’ll continue with that theme but with somewhat of a twist. It’s certainly not dry like it was last […] Read more


grain bins and barley field

Would your farm pass the stress test?

When you pencil out 
your farm budgets, 
calculate some “what if” 
scenarios as well

New provincial guidelines for estimating 2017 crop production costs are being released across the Prairies. These guidelines can help producers predict their operating costs, breakeven yields and profitability. Producers should also be doing a “stress test” to see how much deviation from those predictions the farm can actually bear without losing money, is the advice […] Read more

Farmer walking toward combine.

Make sure your farm is competitive

Prairie farmers are going to have to stay on the ball to remain profitable in today’s markets

After some of my recent articles (see links at the right hand column of your screen) talking about what is happening around the world in primary agricultural production — which countries are leading the way and who we in Western Canada are going to have to compete against in the world markets — I have had […] Read more


Getting better at what you do is the first step.

Staying competitive in a new world

Production is up in the Former Soviet Union and South America. Are you ready?

Up until about the last decade the advantage North American farmers had over those in Russia, Ukraine and South America was the use of machinery, technology, genetics and agronomics to produce higher yields. This kept per acre costs low enough to generate profits. Over the last 10 years farming in these other regions has caught […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Fertilizer prices look to rise by late summer

CNS Canada — A rise in prices for soybeans and other crops could make fertilizer more expensive in the coming months, according to a major player in the industry. In the May market report from the Mosaic Co., the company credited the rally in agricultural commodity prices, the strengthening of key currencies and various Indian […] Read more



North American weather conditions have been a little more extreme.

We’re in weather market madness

Weather drives grain markets. And this year, weather is also driving farmers to distraction

We have had another summer of weather extremes. It started in May with dry weather across the Prairies and parts of the U.S. plains, and excessive rains across large U.S. grain-growing regions. June brought hot, dry spells across the Prairies. Then we topped it off with rain, hail and tornados in July — almost the prefect recipe […] Read more



Row Of Metal Silos

Rethink your selling position

If you’re afraid to abandon your entrenched position, you could 
be missing on some profitable opportunities

Let me draw you an analogy. You’re are a private or corporal in an army. Your sergeant marches you out to a hill, where the intelligence guys summarize the enemy’s strength, what direction they’ll attack from and what weapons they’ll use. Your sergeant advises you to pick out a position based on this information and […] Read more