farm auction

Farm auctions evolve with the times

Online auctions and new technology reshape an environment once dominated by live on-farm sales

The option is still available for farmers who want to sell assets that way, but a U.S. auction firm expanding into Canada notes the number of live, on-farm auctions has drastically declined.

(Andreus/iStock/Getty Images)

Hay-starved Prairies fertile ground for online scammers

At least $64,000 lost in Alberta alone, RCMP says

High demand, scarce supplies and rising prices for hay and other feeds due to this summer’s drought on the Prairies have made a market for online scammers, RCMP warn. The urgency driving such transactions may cause ranchers, farmers and farm workers to make purchases “without taking time to properly verify or research production sources,” Alberta […] Read more


(Glacier FarmMedia photo)

Glacier’s outdoor ag shows preparing digital event lineup

Each show to host multiple online events during 2021

The company hosting Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show and its western counterpart, Ag in Motion, plans to use the online platforms it set up in 2020 to instead host multiple smaller online events this year. Both outdoor ag shows hosted by Winnipeg-based Glacier FarmMedia — the owner of this website — went online in 2020 due […] Read more



(Video screengrab from Cattlevids.ca)

COVID-19 shifts bull buyers online

As auction marts move to curb the disease's spread, technology is connecting buyers and sellers

As bull sale season stretches into the spring, online sales are helping the industry cut COVID-19 risks while facilitating commerce. The Livestock Market Association of Canada (LMAC) last week held an emergency meeting on how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, and decided to follow Health Canada’s lead on limiting crowd size and encouraging social […] Read more



Grain handler Viterra’s system allows growers to create contracts online 24/7 via smartphone. (Paul Ketcheson photo)

Viterra offers up 24/7 online grain contracting

Prairie grain growers doing business with Glencore Agriculture’s Viterra arm can now create their own grain contracts with the company anytime online. In what it describes as the “first and only full range” of online contracting options for farmers in Western Canada, Viterra launched its new system on its myViterra platform in December. A Prairie […] Read more

A man and woman at trade show booth.

Looking for land

If you’re a farmer looking to rent land or a landowner looking for a renter, there are two good online options

Sometimes farmers who want to rent land and landowners looing for good renters have trouble finding each other. Maybe the landowner inherited land, in a place she never lived. Maybe investors bought land in an area where they don’t know any local farmers. Often farmers who would like to rent more land don’t even find […] Read more