Hursh Comment

On many farmyards, old pieces of equipment are nowhere to be seen. If there’s any scrap metal, it must be behind the shop out of sight to passers-by. On other farmyards, salvage equipment and scrap metal are everywhere, sometimes well organized and sometimes random. My place is starting to look like the latter description. Some …

Concern over rural crime has been heightened by the recent mass murder and subsequent manhunt in Saskatchewan. In the days the suspect was at large, many more farm families locked their doors at night. Some made sure they had quick access to their firearms. Usually, the threat isn’t so dire, but many areas struggle with …

With so many moving parts strained to capacity while working in heat and dust, it’s amazing combines are as reliable as they are. Still, the list of potential problems and breakdowns is endless. We probably suffer more than most because we’re running two combines that have now seen their 25th birthdays. The hours aren’t extremely …

One day, I tweeted a picture of my brown mustard crop noting that harvest wasn’t far away. Soon after, I received a request from a French television journalist wanting to travel from Paris to my farm. It seems that mustard, specifically Dijon, made from brown mustard is sold out in French supermarkets, creating something akin …

The July meeting of agriculture ministers from across the country resulted in some substantive initiatives that will directly impact farmers. However, as is often the case, the devil is in the details and those are yet to be worked out. At the meeting, held in Saskatoon, it was determined that the next five-year federal, provincial …

Let’s apply a little common sense to macro economic policy. The latest hike to the Bank of Canada rate is a full percentage point with the express purpose of decreasing demand to battle inflation. It’s the largest increase in decades and more increases are expected. While some boost to interest rates is reasonable given how …

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 …