The good news is there are deals to be had on both new and used farm equipment out there, says Matt Clark, senior rural economic analyst with Terrain. The bad news is why there may be deals to be found. (Hello, tough times!) There are, however, ratios between gross margin, costs per acre, and more,... Read More
Category: Farm Management
Raising a family in a rural area comes with a lot of benefits, including a caring community and an often slower pace of life than what the cities offer. There are drawbacks though, and longer — sometimes much longer — emergency response times is one of the major ones. This drawback is one that Kim... Read More
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says it has secured an initial supply of half a million doses of a human vaccine against avian influenza as part of its contingency planning around the ongoing outbreak of the highly-pathogenic H5N1 virus. As of last week, 68 human cases of avian influenza had been reported in... Read More
What does it look like when rural development is viewed as finding ways to better serve the people that call rural areas home versus developing rural areas into cities? Too often, says Dr. Ashleigh Weeden, rural development policy fails to really consider what rural areas need more of and how to best support these projects,... Read More
With farmland under pressure from urban expansion, conservation needs, and economic development, it raises the critical — and contentious — question: who should decide how land is used? Private landowners' rights are essential and rightfully expected in Canada, but there's also an argument to be made that the public has a stake in land-use decisions... Read More
Farm safety is often overlooked in the hectic pace of daily chores, making training and emergency plans critically important. That's why winter can be a great time to focus on safety, says Jody Wacowich, executive director of AgSafe Alberta. Courses such as FARMERS CARE, respiratory protective equipment (RPE), and confined space awareness are all available... Read More
With numerous challenges facing Canadian agriculture and tariffs being a major concern, Justine Hendricks, president and CEO of Farm Credit Canada (FCC), says that it is important to stay focused on what FCC is calling a "generational opportunity" through collaboration and doubling down on investments and innovations that increase productivity. In this interview with RealAgriculture's... Read More
The advancement of technology has been a game changer when it comes to the ability to communicate, shop, pay for goods and services, and even farm. From internet access to GPS-equipped tractors and combines, online connectivity has made many tasks easier. There can be risks associated with being online, however simple steps can help enhance... Read More
Some parts of the country have seen more success protecting farmland than other regions, but when you add it up, Canada continues to lose an astonishing amount of farmland to urban expansion. The oft-cited statistic from the most recent Census of Agriculture is that Ontario alone loses an average of 319 acres of farmland every... Read More
Lower crop prices and sinking margins in 2024 pushed Southwestern Ontario farmland growth into negative territory for the first time in 14 years, according to an annual survey of farmland in the region. Ryan Parker, partner and agricultural appraiser at London-based Valco Consultants, says a 1.43 per cent drop in farmland prices across the region... Read More