Ontario farmers have a new cost-share program to help them reduce their carbon footprint and become more energy efficient. The GreenON Agriculture program, recently announced by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change, is specifically aimed at producers of agricultural commodities in permanent, climate-controlled buildings. The Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association will... Read More
Category: Farm Management
Ontario's soils are losing organic matter. What builds organic matter? Perennial and forage species! But if you're going to plant perennial hay or pasture, you have to have something to feed it to or you won't be farming long enough to see the value of the added organic matter. And that's a slight problem, as... Read More
With the five-year Growing Forward 2 agriculture framework wrapping up next month, federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay launched six federal programs under the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) at the Canada's Agriculture Day celebration in Ottawa on Tuesday. CAP is the acronym for the new $3 billion, five-year federal-provincial-territorial agriculture funding agreement that begins on... Read More
Precision agriculture company Farmers Edge has plans to disrupt the crop insurance industry, announcing an agreement with global reinsurer PartnerRe on Tuesday. The four-year deal will see Farmers Edge and PartnerRe jointly develop new agriculture insurance products based on field data that Farmers Edge already collects for agronomic reasons. "For the longest time we've been... Read More
Low unemployment, major tax cuts, and looming trillion dollar deficits — the U.S. economy is hot, with growing concerns that it may be at risk of over-heating. Increasing odds of higher inflation and interest rates have stoked a pullback and volatility in the stock market after the Dow climbed to record highs in late January.... Read More
Forget the standard five and 10-year outlooks of strategic planning. Instead, have you figured out where to best put your time in in a day? Whether or not you and your spouse are collaborating to your full potential? Is technology helping or hindering your farm operation? These are the kinds of questions Nick Bontis, professor... Read More
If you're five years away from stepping back from the day-to-day operation of your farm, you're likely to make different management decisions than say when you were five years in to your farming journey. But it's rare for a farm to have such a distinct start and end point — most farms are a blend... Read More
A not-for-profit foundation focused on addressing mental health challenges in Canadian agriculture will officially be launched in Edmonton next week at FarmTech. The Do More Agriculture Foundation kicked off its online and social media presence this week. The initiative is the brainchild of its four founders: Kim Keller, Lesley Rae Kelly, Himanshu Singh and Kirk... Read More
A talk radio show I frequently listen to was recently discussing the hypothetical question: if you could pause your age at any point you chose, when would it be? Some said 18, some said 35, some said 55. It was a fun, interactive discussion. Everyone had their personal reasons based on external factors or their... Read More
The Government of Alberta is making some resolutions for the new year. As of January 1, 2018, farm and ranch owners will have some new Employment Standards rules to abide by. The changes are part of Bill 17: The Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act, and will apply to farms and ranches that "employ waged, non-family... Read More