The 2019 harvest from hell has many producers assessing their grain drying capability. This includes upgrading current systems to add capacity and automation, while for others this means a first foray into grain drying equipment. In some regions, grain drying is a fact of life for most harvests. In other regions, there will be years […] Read more
Author Archives
Late harvest is an effort in struggle
Combining late in the fall sucks. You work harder and harder for diminishing returns. This hit home the other day when I went to clean the combine windows, normally a routine task. We keep a squeegee in a 20-litre pail filled to about one-third with water. The squeegee handle protrudes through the hole in the […] Read more
There is a positive side to this gloomy crop year
Crops worth billions of dollars remain in the field as we head into November. Even producers who managed to finish harvest likely had at least some of their production downgraded by wet harvest weather. And many producers face huge grain drying costs. All this comes on top of mediocre prices for many commodities exacerbated by […] Read more
Don’t expect election to end political bickering
Regardless of the election results and what party or parties form government, the election campaign demonstrated how far Canadian politics has shifted to the left of the political spectrum. It also showed that the concerns of farmers don’t rank very high on the political agenda. The Liberals have long been the middle-of-the-road big tent pulling […] Read more
Climate change promises fall short in election
It’s been a disappointing federal election campaign lacking in meaningful policy debate. Instead, voters have heard lots of one-off promises and opponent bashing. One of the election issues has been climate change policy, but that has been simplistic and misleading. One of the best one-liners in the televised English language debate was NDP leader Jagmeet […] Read more
Expanding the farm at all costs can be disastrous
All the trade issues are well known. So is the weather risk. While farm income levels have been exceptionally strong over an extended number of years, the party in the grain sector seems to be ending. Finances are tightening up and the years ahead could be a struggle. As farmers, we often point out that […] Read more
This year’s late harvest has domino effect
The immature crops, rain and snow that have delayed harvest will have wide-ranging ramifications: some are obvious and some are not. The financial hit is at the top of the obvious list. A lot of malting barley has been reduced to feed and a great deal of wheat and durum will now fall into the […] Read more
Climate action takes on religious undertones
A new religion is sweeping the world — the religion of climate change. Like many of the ancient religious dogmas, it relies more on faith than evidence and also like traditional religions, it runs the risk of becoming fanatical. For the firm believers, evidence of climate change devastation is everywhere. Every weather anomaly is now […] Read more
Market analysts will never run out of work
How often do you pull into the field with your combine and end up being surprised, either positively or negatively, by the yield? For me it happens all the time. I’d like to believe that I can estimate crop yield by plus or minus 10 percent, but the variance is often larger than that. Part […] Read more
Farmers face dismal prices and dismal returns
At the average yields being projected by Statistics Canada and with prevailing price levels, none of the typical crops in Saskatchewan cover total expenses. Some crops don’t even cover all their variable expenses. Crop prices used in this analysis come from numerous sources and I try to use an f.o.b. farm price on everything for […] Read more
