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The Trudeau Liberals continue to find new ways to alienate rural westerners in general and farmers and ranchers in particular. Farm organizations need to work with governments no matter their political stripe so they tend to be diplomatic in their statements. Not so for the regular farm crowd, a surprising number of whom wear hats, …

As farmers, we are often poorly prepared for one particular risk – lack of labour. This applies to all the folks who do the work, particularly family members. Various methods exist to deal with the price risk on the commodities we sell. Input cost risk is often mitigated on products like fertilizer by buying early. …

The prosperity gap between grain farmers and cow-calf producers has widened considerably over the past year. Gradually, more cattle producers are selling off their cows. Land at all suitable for annual crop production is being taken out of hay and pasture. The price for everything continues to increase – machinery, fertilizer, diesel, fencing supplies and …

It was May 9 and we were hoping to finish seeding chickpeas. The Environment Canada forecast was calling for 30 per cent chance of showers. Surprisingly, showers did materialize and it became too wet to complete the field. Previously, forecasts for rain had mostly evaporated. This time, showers turned to light rain and then moderate …

Of all the problems facing this troubled world, climate change gets far more attention than warranted. This is particularly true of the Trudeau Liberals where almost every initiative is viewed through a climate change lens. Doomsday forecasts on climate change have missed the mark for decades, but we’re still being told it’s a climate emergency. …

Well, I was wrong. In this column back in early April, I predicted a rise in canola acreage given its strong new crop prices and superior crop insurance coverage. That isn’t what farmers told Statistics Canada for the seeding intentions report released April 26. Stats Can has canola acreage down 7 per cent compared to …