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Marleen Conacher doesn’t sweat the small stuff during harvest. You just do what you have to do and hope everything works out, she says.

Columns

The most important harvest fuel: meals

Getting those meals to the field is a big part of the harvest season

By
Harvest can be a hectic, stressful time of year. Will the weather co-operate? Will that canola field yield as well as expected? Will the combine break down at the worst possible time? In the middle of all that action is a much-loved tradition for many farm families — meals in the field. As my friend […] Read more
Transportation, energy and agriculture
Columns

A new era brings change and challenge

Transportation players are working together after the end of the CWB's single desk

By
Greg Northey, industry relations director for Pulse Canada, says grain companies have had to handle more logistical challenges since the end of the Canadian Wheat Board’s single desk’s, which he said was “probably an interesting learning curve.” Northey is unsure how that learning curve affected grain movement in years with big issues. But he thinks […] Read more
Columns

Getting the call: summoned for jury duty

Some people will do anything to get out of the office. Lisa Guenther chose a chance to learn about the courts

By
This spring, I picked up some mail that had been sent to my old address. To my surprise and disdain, I’d received a juror summons from Sask Justice. How it works In many ways, jury selection in rural Saskatchewan is quite different from what we see in the movies or in American news stories. However, […] Read more
Few visible signs remain of Cleeves. Pictured is the basement of the school.
Columns

Getting back to the roots of our Prairie past

Reporter's Notebook: Lisa Guenther tours what’s left of Cleeves, a once-thriving Saskatchewan town

By
It’s a safe bet that most people haven’t heard of Cleeves, Sask. While Google maps still marks the spot virtually, little is left of the abandoned hamlet beyond caraganas, a dirt road and the basement of the school. Growing up in the Turtleford area, I’d heard of Cleeves. I knew it was somewhere around Spruce […] Read more
Columns

Perfecting your pitch for farm reporters

Reporter's Notebook: These tips for passing on story ideas to reporters will help get your passions in print

By
On a fairly regular basis, I receive story ideas from media relations people and readers. Several factors go into whether or not a story makes it onto the pages of Grainews, and they’re not all within the control of the person pitching the idea. But some things are. Here are the ingredients for a solid […] Read more
Columns

A new growing season brings a new start

Reporter's Notebook: For the start of a new growing season, Lisa Guenther has some listening recommendations

By
I started writing this column on the last day of March. The snow was rapidly receding, the water running, the rhubarb in my backyard emerging and my recently- transplanted tomato seedlings were leaning into the light. To me, spring feels more like the New Year than January 1. A while back I was visiting seed […] Read more
Columns

Working with all types of people in ag

Reporter's Notebook: Most people in the ag industry are great to work with. But harassment still happens

By
Talk to a few people in the agriculture industry, and you’ll likely hear something like this: Agriculture is a great field to work in, largely because there are so many good people in the industry. I think about this a lot. Is it true? In what way is it true? Is agriculture different than other […] Read more
This horse cut himself somehow in the pasture during a blizzard. That mess on his leg is snow and frozen blood. I thought I might have to bandage and wrap it. However, the wound was barely visible — it’s under the dot of ice in the second picture. He wasn’t lame, I couldn’t find any foreign material in the wound, and the leg didn’t swell, so I left it alone. This is just one example of the things that only seem to happen when I’m farm-sitting.
Columns, Livestock

Leaving your livestock to a farm-sitter

Reporter's Notebook: Before you get on the plane, you're going to have to find someone to feed and watch those cows

By
How do cattle producers manage to leave for winter holidays if they aren’t working with extended family? It’s a conundrum producers have likely faced since they first domesticated cattle-beasts. Several years ago, while I was still living in Edmonton, I remember hearing about a guy, Frank Campbell, who was setting up a farm-sitting service. Basically […] Read more
Columns, Crops

The need for better record keeping

Reporter's Notebook: It’s not one of agronomy’s most exciting issues, but it’s a need that’s not going away

By
At CanolaLAB in Vermilion in February, record-keeping kept popping up during the agronomy sessions. Murray Hartman of Alberta Agriculture and the Canola Council’s Dan Orchard facilitated an interesting session on plant stand establishment. Target plant stand recommendations have dropped a little, but before farmers cut seeding rates, they need to know how many plants are […] Read more
Drought-cracked mud in wheat field
Columns, Weather

Facing up to the truth about climate change

Reporter's Notebook: If we want consumers to accept the judgement of science, we need to return the favour

By
Those pants look terrible on you. Perhaps you’ve experienced that awkward moment when you try to stop a friend from committing a fashion faux pas. If so, you may have agonized how to word your concerns to avoid offense, while still getting your message across. It’s a potentially volatile moment that perfectly captures how I […] Read more

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