Grain storage transformation. The concrete silos of yesterday sit empty. New, lighter, more portable bins have replaced them as farmers learn more about safe grain storage and proper bin ventilation. | by Mary MacArthur, Camrose bureau
NOW: BITTERN LAKE, Alta. – It was a push to modernize that encouraged Walter McNary to build the concrete silo in 1974. His son, George, had returned home to farm and encouraged his father to modernize their 50-cow dairy from a pit silo to something more automated. For $24,000, the family built the 24 foot […] Read moreNews
Now: Dozens of tractor brands melded into few; Then: The world’s greatest tractor buy!
NOW: Breaking prairie sod and seeding crops at the turn of the century required big horses and strong men to work them. However, those big strong Canadian work horses and the prairie farm boys who drove them were swallowed up by the thousands in the muddy trenches of the First World War. By necessity, pistons […] Read more
Now: Look on the bright side but remember the past; Then: Despair
NOW: Today’s young farmers have an attitude toward farming and life that grew out of the wave of good fortune they have experienced in the past decade. It’s similar to how frugality was instilled in prairie farmers and their descendants in the wake of the Great Depression of the 1930s. “People tend to anchor on […] Read more
Now: Science and experience help prepare for future; Then: When dry turns to drought
NOW: It might be hard for farmers who have been coping with flooding for the past few years to imagine dealing with drought, but that day is coming. Scientists just can’t say exactly when. Drought has been a major threat since agricultural production began on the Prairies. The region is typically dry and often affected […] Read more
Now: Will 2,4-D overcome its bad publicity?; Then: Reaction of weeds to 2,4-D
NOW: Last spring, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a postponement of its decision on whether to approve corn and soybean varieties that are tolerant of 2,4-D. The department said it received more than 8,200 comments on the potential impact of this new technology. It also received petitions signed by more than 400,000 people, mostly […] Read more
Now: Genetic technology transforms beef, dairy sectors; Then: Pine needles cause pregnant cows to abort
NOW: Earlier this year, the McKinsey Global Institute published a list of 12 disruptive technologies it believes could transform life, business and the economy. Included on the list were improved internet and computer capacity as well as genomics. The economics research firm estimated genomics could have a potential value to agriculture and human health of […] Read more
Now: Voices expressed through WP’s Young Co-operators; Then: Tommy
For Pat Katz, seeing her name in print never gets old. The Saskatchewan author of five books credits The Western Producer’s Young Co-operators Club with launching her writing career, inspiring dreams and helping them come true. “Each time one rolls off the press and into my hands, I am just as thrilled as I was […] Read more
Now: Researcher remembers pulse crop heyday; Then: Fababean markets opening up in Man.
NOW: It’s a good thing Al Slinkard isn’t afraid of the cold. It was a bone-chilling – 40 C when the father of Canada’s lentil industry reported to work at the newly formed University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre Feb. 1, 1972. But he didn’t think twice about his decision to uproot his family from […] Read more
Now: Political, marketing ideology changes wipe out pools; Then: Elections of wheat pool delegates to be rushed with all possible speed
NOW: In its infancy, The Western Producer was the voice of the exploding wheat pool movement on the Prairies. “The Alberta Pool Campaign Now Forging Ahead Rapidly,” screamed an excited front page headline Aug. 27, 1923. “The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool — the biggest thing the farmers of Western Canada have ever undertaken is the wheat […] Read more
Growth promotant advantages led to quick adoption
THEN & NOW: It’s all well and good for cattle to be Ful-o-Pep, as promoted in an advertisement in the May 10, 1956, issue of The Western Producer. But then, as now, beef cattle growth promotants were more about feed efficiency and extra pounds than about animal vigour. And then, as now, some people were […] Read more
