Hursh Comment

The federal government has released a discussion document for the development of a sustainable agriculture strategy. Wading through all the buzzwords and motherhood statements is rather tedious, but the document does provide some insight into government thinking and how future programs are likely to unfold. Let’s start with some positives, some praiseworthy statements amidst all …

Listening to farmers from across the country, you hear a wide range of strategies for dealing with the farm labour shortage. While organizations led by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council have long been chronicling the shortage and working on big picture solutions, farmers have had to find their own answers. In many cases, additional …

The rapid rise in interest rates over the past year has wider ramifications than just the cost of borrowing money. Many farm management considerations are now in play. I don’t claim to be an economist and I’m certainly not an accountant, but here are some musings based on dirt farmer arithmetic. As you prepare crop …

Participation in farm organizations reminds me of the country music song titled “My give a damn’s busted.” As farmers, we have no shortage of opinions, but there’s a definite shortage of giving a damn about the organizations that represent us. In the recent director elections for Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, five directors were vying for three …

While my natural inclination is to rail against the most recent trade deal compensation being paid to the dairy and poultry sectors, after a bit of sober second thought, I revert to the old axiom, “People in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks.” Compensation for anticipated loss of market share was promised to supply-managed farms by …

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most sustainable and virtuous of us all? The different sectors within agriculture each like to promote their sustainability, even if no one can accurately define what exactly it means. Since agriculture is a target for greenhouse gas reductions, each sector wants to win the public perception battle. …

Price dynamics among the various cropping options could change substantially in the months ahead, but even at this early date some crop choice winners and losers are emerging. Oats has lost its luster. Prices were record high in 2021. Going into the spring of 2022, oats could be contracted at prices of $6 a bushel …

Following the massive disruption caused by the pandemic, many aspects of our lives have returned to normal or almost normal. No so with farm auction sales and it’s a pity. When auction sales pivoted to on-line participation only, it was a brilliant move. Since nobody was socializing, watching and bidding on-line was a great pastime. …

Rising interest rates may have another impact on farmland prices that most people don’t consider. Obviously, higher borrowing costs will have an impact on the ability of some people to cashflow farmland purchases. This is the same relationship cited for people buying homes. Higher interest rates are widely expected to temper and perhaps even reverse …

Imagine a farm that orders 40 of the largest John Deere combines complete with headers at a cost of $1.3 million each. Pretty big farm, eh? Well, according to people who rent land to this large southern Saskatchewan based farm operation, that’s the combine order for the coming year. Forty combines at 4,000 acres per …

Concerns over worker safety are having a major impact on how crop insurance functions. In 2021, Saskatchewan Crop Insurance was swamped by claims from the widespread and severe drought. Bin measurements to validate claims were mostly dropped. It would take too long to follow the normal procedure of climbing bins and doing all the measurements …

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 …