hail

U.S. hail insurer looks northward

Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. of Iowa has made its first venture outside the U.S., buying the 80 per cent of Prairie crop hail insurance firm Palliser Insurance it didn’t already own, for an undisclosed amount. FMH CEO Shannon Rutledge said in a release in February that Palliser’s “regional expertise, knowledge and accomplishments…will contribute to […] Read more




Henrique Carvalho of the University of Manitoba heads up the Regional (Tall) Tower project in Saskatchewan.

Project to take high-level look at ag emissions

A CBC tower will be used to monitor nitrous oxide on the Prairies

Glacier FarmMedia — A group of researchers, policy makers and producer organizations is repurposing part of a CBC transmission tower to get data on agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions. The tower at Yorkton, Sask., will be fitted with sensors to measure agricultural nitrous oxide emissions 100 metres above the ground. The group, dubbed CanN20net, held its […] Read more


Photo: Vadimgouida/iStock/Getty Images

Prairie forecast: Cold snap coming to an end

Forecast issued February 19, covering Feb. 19 to 26, 2025

For this forecast period, as predicted a week ago, we're finally going to see an end to this long cold snap. The polar vortex is weakening and is forecasted to move off to the east. This will allow for a strong push of mild Pacific air to flood across the Prairies. It should bring temperatures above freezing to Alberta beginning early in the forecast period. Near to above freezing temperatures should move into Saskatchewan and Manitoba over the weekend.

Photo: Alexis Stockford

Prairie forecast: Cold high pressure to dominate

Forecast issued February 12, covering Feb. 12 to 19, 2025

Unfortunately, it looks like the cold weather will stick around for at least this forecast period. Maybe a little bit longer. There are some signs of this pattern breaking down near the end of the month, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.


coffee in quebec winter

Train your body to overcome winter blues

Fit to Farm: People try to struggle against their biology in the cold and dark

For those of us who stay in Canada for the winter, seasonal shifts in light, weather and nutrition often take a toll. Many Canadians notice changes in their overall wellbeing through the winter months, both physically and mentally. Part of this shift in our overall quality of well-being in the winter likely comes from our […] Read more

Tim French/iStock/Getty Images

Prairie forecast: Midwinter cold settles in

Forecast issued February 5, covering Feb. 5 to Feb. 12, 2025

We start this forecast period off with plenty of cold air in place, which is a 180-degree change from a week ago. Saskatchewan and Manitoba will also have to deal with a disturbance on Wednesday and Thursday that may bring upwards of 15 cm of fluffy snow.


Leaving taller standing stubble in a field increases its aerodynamic roughness heading into later fall and winter.

Retain your rain

Farmers can get creative to manage water efficiency on Prairie fields

Growers often dismiss the unpredictability of precipitation as pure luck — but they can stack the odds in their favour with the right strategies. “There’s a lot of different dynamics going on with the water balance in the Prairies,” says Phillip Harder, research director and hydrologist at Croptimistic Technologies. In addition to summer rains during […] Read more

Photo: Geralyn Wichers

Prairie forecast: Weekend low to bring snow to swaths of the Prairies

Forecast issued January 29, covering Jan. 29 to Feb. 5, 2025

We start this forecast period off with plenty of warm air in place across much of the Prairies. We continue to see areas of low pressure dropping southeastward from the western territories into northwestern Ontario with high pressure still in place across the northwestern U.S. and southwestern Canada.