Toban Dyck: Formalizing weekly meetings

The owners at Burr Forest Acres settle in to a new Saturday morning routine

Things were weighing on us. We were both carrying stress related to the farm and we were doing so in silence. I was busy and used that as an excuse to put aside the things that needed our attention. In November, it all came to a head. I went first, expressing all the things that […] Read more

Toban Dyck: Predicting those curveballs

Farm life brings more and more responsibilities. Only change is predictable

Curveballs are hard to hit, but when you’re given nothing else, you’ll figure out a way. You’ll adapt. You’ll play the game differently. At least, you should. Farming is a continual lesson in this. It’s a day-in, day-out, year-in, year-out lesson in thriving amid constant flux. The weather is different every year and you’re forced […] Read more


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Becoming a landowner at last

A new farmer feels the responsibility of signing the papers on his first land purchase

Imagine a boulder. Imagine that boulder is perfectly and delicately balanced on the lip of a large, downward run. The thing that frightens me the most about buying the 80 acres has little to do with the specifics. No. It’s different than that. It frightens me because when I sign those papers later on today […] Read more

Moving from “just new here” to “experienced”

Moving ahead on the learning curve requires you to make a mental switch

Eventually, I will get it. Eventually, I will understand farming and agriculture. I don’t know when, though. And when I retreat inside my own brain to take stock what I do in fact know, the process gets interrupted by questions such as, what does it really mean to know or learn anything? The first time […] Read more


Building a relationship with readers

At the start of the New Year, Toban reflects on his Grainews column to date

Thank you. From the foundations of who I am today and all that I’ve done in the last five years, I’d like to express my gratitude to you, Grainews readers and farmers, for being supportive; for listening; for engaging; and for being one of the most fruitful audiences I’ve ever had. Don’t worry. I am […] Read more

soybeans and soybean pods

Growing soybeans in Brazil

Toban Dyck had a glimpse of South American ag in a whirlwind trip to Brazil


At the end of August my wife and I traveled to Brazil for the International Pork and Poultry conference. I assumed the soybean plants in Brazil grow six-feet tall and that farmers there expect yields close to 80 bushels per acre. I expected to see lush growth, and an insatiable appetite for clear cutting the […] Read more


Keeping the rural identity in prairie towns

Keeping the rural identity in prairie towns

When Prairie towns grow and change, some may shed their farming roots

It’s strange to think of cities, towns or villages as having an identity. But they all do. And every community, growing or stagnant or dwindling will at many points throughout its run be faced with the existential and difficult question: who am I? This is especially relevant for the large swath of rural Canadian communities […] Read more

Harvesting of soybean field with combine

Seeding ideas about the rural/urban divide

A farmers musings on the growing lack of communication between city-dwellers and farmers

I got some grease on me the other day. Heck. It looked as if I had bathed in the stuff. And, you know what? It felt great. I even got a few scrapes. The kind of scrapes you only notice later, after the work, when you’re sitting down with a good book or while watching […] Read more


Putting in those long spring working days

When there are clouds in the sky, there’s no time to waste when the crop’s not in yet

I had about 50 acres left to seed at 10 p.m. on May 15. The forecast was calling for rain starting at about midnight. But that was for Winkler. I wasn’t near Winkler. I was closer to the system that was rolling east. I didn’t think I’d be able to finish. The system was above […] Read more

Find your voice in Prairie farm politics

Just a take few steps up toward the microphone, and you can have a say in farm policy

In politics, we as farmers hope for a voice. We want our agricultural leaders to know what it’s like to run a farm; to get their hands dirty. We want our lawmakers to know that good policy comes from having one ear to the field and the other to the barn. And we want all […] Read more