This is the time of year when Canadian snowbirds leave behind their parkas, snow shovels and winter boots to trek to those warm and pleasant climates of Palm Springs, California, or Phoenix, Arizona. They may have tax filing requirements in the United States, depending on the number of days spent there each year. Ignoring these […] Read more
Opinion — page 700
Tax considerations for Canadians travelling abroad – Farm Accounts
Technical vs Fundamental
Tomorrow in Yorkton oat growers are going to be able to witness two radically different approaches to market analysis and price predictions. Two analysts are going to try to give farmers an idea of where oat prices are likely to go in the next year and while they might end up with the same conclusions, […] Read more
Have a nice convention
On Thursday the Prairie Oats Growers Association (POGA) is holding its annual convention and the market hasn’t been offering much to them recently to be happy about. All crops have fallen since the start of October, but the plunge has been particularly bad for oats. It’s futures prices at the Chicago Board of Trade has […] Read more
Tricky dicky markets
“The 70s were pretty quiet compared to this,” an American crop futures trader just told me. “These are the most volatile times I have ever seen.” That’s actually saying a lot, because the 1970s were a time of intense volatility, fondly remembered by farmers for their numerous crop price spikes. But what farmers often don’t […] Read more
If the buck goes boom
What happens to commodity prices if the American dollar collapses? It’s not such an idle question these days, with some gurus calling for a plunge in the U.S. dollar in response to the American government’s almost unbelievably large financial bailout spending recently. People such as Jim Rogers and Marc Faber have been calling for a […] Read more
Which GST method is right for you? – Taking care of business
Most businesses in Canada are likely familiar with filing goods and services tax returns. If they sell products to which GST applies, they must collect this amount from their customers and remit it to the government. When they make an expenditure on which they pay GST, they can deduct the GST they have paid from […] Read more
Rife suspicion harms the process – WP editorial
VOTING in Canadian Wheat Board director elections ends Nov. 28 and as usual, the campaign has had more than its share of accusations of unfairness. Every vote since the first one in 1998 has managed to stir controversy. That’s too bad because the wheat board directors and the farmers who vote for them deserve better. […] Read more
AgriStability appears to be just CAIS with lipstick – Opinion
AS SURE as the sun rises in the east and the Toronto Maple Leafs will fall out of playoff contention in January, parts of Canada’s farm sector always will be in prolonged slump. And that is the inherent flaw in a farm support program (business risk management is the preferred bureaucratic term, since it does […] Read more
Let’s unify farmers with eaters – Opinion
Steinman is the producer and host of Deconstructing Dinner, a weekly radio broadcast based in Nelson, B.C. This item was inspired by a speech given by Luanne Armstrong when the Creston Grain Community Supported Agriculture project celebrated its first anniversary. As farmers often operate in solitude and work closely with nature, there is ample opportunity […] Read more
Last roundup, or not, for McLeods – Editorial Notebook
She titled her story The Last Roundup, but Valorie McLeod later explained that, though her husband, Rod, and his brother Wayne might reduce the herd, they’ll probably stay in the cattle business. They just won’t be using a particular northern pasture where they had taken the cattle to graze this year. The McLeods raise about […] Read more
