Michael Raine

Farmers dragging wide farm implements around a field sometimes think they need eyes in the backs of their heads. Now a new product called Camtrak allows equipment operators to watch the world behind them without getting a sore neck from twisting around. Small video cameras mounted on field implements give operators a forward view from […] Read more

NESS CREEK, Sask. – A lifetime of hard labor may have dulled the ears and hardened the hands, but it hasn’t stolen the soulful sound that Jack Millikin can make with a bow drawn across a saw. Pushed and pulled across a “cheap, old saw that I still use to rip a one by six […] Read more

When David Wenaus snapped a power line and ripped into a farmer’s field with his Cessna 188 last week , he became the 14th spray plane pilot since 1995 to be involved in a serious crash in Canada. Wenaus survived his accident near Osage, Sask., but will be hospitalized for some time, said a family […] Read more

It may already be too late for this year’s crop, say many plant scientists and agrologists in Saskatchewan. Lentils seemed to be a good choice for growers this year. They fit the rotation, command a reasonable price and thrive under the predicted El Nino-caused, hot and dry conditions. But then conditions turned hot and wet […] Read more

REGINA – Stretches of broken pavement that used to be Saskatchewan’s highways mark the need for changes in how business and government view the provincial blacktop. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool and the province will soon be joining forces in a program to help preserve the remaining pavement. The Transportation Partnerships Program, introduced in 1994, has moved […] Read more

REGINA – Climbing in the Lamborgini to drag the sprayer over that back 80 acres sounds like something from a farmer’s lottery dream. But if that Lamborgini is a tractor, the fantasy can become real. Farmers used to Masseys, Deeres and Internationals are hearing some new names. European tractors are making their way onto the […] Read more

NINGA, Man. – About 100 harvests have been taken from this field in years past. But now, according to Manitoba Natural Resources, it is a natural wetland and cannot be drained. “What do they know about this land? They come here, see water today and say it is a wetland,” said Ray Hildebrandt. Hildebrandt, his […] Read more

First the Wilcox Co-op Association filed a builder’s lien against a new ConAgra elevator at Corinne, Sask., for an unpaid fuel bill. Then ConAgra applied to have all liens removed. Now the co-op finds itself a defendant in a lawsuit between Con-Agra and its general contractor, Universal Grain Systems. It began innocently. A multinational grain […] Read more

El Nino has one more nasty surprise in store for prairie farmers: pestilence. Insects that have plagued farmers south of the national divide are making their way north, even choosing to stay for the winter. Lygus bugs have long spent winters in Canada’s West. They survive in weedy or woody areas, waiting for spring. The […] Read more

There is something big on the horizon, if you approach by sea. The Alberta Wheat Pool grain terminal that graces the port of Vancouver is partially under new ownership and has a new name, Cascadia Terminal. Alberta Pool and Cargill began a joint venture with the pool’s existing grain terminal in Vancouver last week. Capable […] Read more