BALCARRES, Sask. – When the Stephens family built its new house 10 years ago, the cost was the same as a new combine.
Keith Stephens spends about 200 hours a year maintaining the old combine. The house serves Keith, his wife Wendy, son Ian and daughter Danielle 365 days of the year. It wasn’t much of a choice, Stephens said.
Today, the entire family enjoys the house and the 20 metre indoor swimming pool and Stephens is content turning wrenches keeping a pair of old 860s running.
“At the time we built the house, we were in pig production,” he said.
Read Also
VIDEO: Green Lightning and Nytro Ag win sustainability innovation award
Nytro Ag Corp and Green Lightning recieved an innovation award at Ag in Motion 2025 for the Green Lightning Nitrogen Machine, which converts atmospheric nitrogen into a plant-usable form.
“We couldn’t get away from the farm very often so we wanted to create our own little oasis right here on the farm. The pool cost us an extra $30,000 but it’s been worth it. Before the pool, I was a regular customer at the chiropractor’s office. Since I’ve been swimming regularly, I’ve just about forgotten how to find the place.”
Stephens said a lot of the farm’s decisions are based more on family factors than on straight farm economics. One example is the house and pool; another is the $8,000 he spent last year on global positioning system equipment.
“Part of our rationale is the kids. It would have been hard to justify two Outbacks just for my own use. My son is 17 and my daughter is in university. I figured this may be the last opportunity I have to really let them see what modern farming is all about. GPS has become a part of agriculture. I think this was a smart move.
“Five years from now, they won’t even think about farming. It’s not that we necessarily want either of them to take over the farm, but operating farm equipment with GPS gives them a chance to see if this is something they might be interested in. I don’t want them to hit age 30 and look back and say, ‘man, I wish I had tried that farming business.’ “
Stephens said the future of farming is in fine tuning. It will be more of an intellectual than physical challenge.
“I don’t think that technology such as GPS will directly solve anybody’s problems. It won’t give us black and white answers, but it will give us more information to work with. It’s all part of the mental challenge. That’s what I’d like the kids to see for themselves.
“For instance, we’ve always done strip trials on this farm to help find solutions and answers. I put test strips in quite a few fields every year. Now, with the GPS mapping and the yield monitors, we can do a much more accurate job of recording the results and making changes for the following year.”
He said computers are nothing new on the Stephens farm.
“I got our first one back in the early 1980s. That’s when you couldn’t even buy a computer anywhere in Saskatchewan. I had to go out to Calgary to get it. And they were quite expensive compared to today’s prices.
“That was over 20 years ago. We used that computer to help us organize information and make slightly better decisions. Just slightly better, I’d have to admit, but it paid for itself and it made money for us. That’s all part of the mental challenge of farming.”
