Collaboration and industry buy-in are a key theme in the province's soil strategy.

Province lays out soil health strategy

Measures aim to improve soil health over the next decade

The Ontario government’s soil health strategy is a sprawling plan that aims to provide industry guidance on improving soil health out to 2030. It plans to do that by bringing farm groups, government and agribusiness together to provide the drive to make change happen. Why it matters: Crop farming practices have changed in Ontario, with […] Read more

Mach Till added to Kinze implement line

Mach Till added to Kinze implement line

Williamsburg, Iowa-based Kinze has long been known for its grain carts and planters. This year the brand is growing its product portfolio by adding the Mach Till high-speed tillage implement line. “Farmers will now be able to obtain three types of equipment from their Kinze dealer, all with the same standard of quality,” said Susanne […] Read more

(SeedHawk.com)

Seed Hawk to take parent firm’s name

For Saskatchewan seeding, planting and tillage equipment maker Seed Hawk, the company name is changing but the brand remains the same. Seed Hawk, which has been 100 per cent owned by Swedish equipment manufacturer Vaderstad since 2013, has been renamed Vaderstad Industries effective Tuesday. The two companies said the name change “reflects the fuller integration […] Read more

Bob Sandford of the United Nations University says agriculture productivity needs to be increased, but with limited impact on earth systems. (John Greig photo)

Canada’s soils still degrading, albeit more slowly

The rate of degradation of soils in Canada has slowed, but it still is happening at a significant rate and there is still a lot to learn. There are no soil-perfect systems yet for crop production, attendees at the Summit on Canadian Soil Health held recently in Guelph heard repeatedly. No-till farming has declined in […] Read more

Stubble on a harvested oat field near Winnipeg. (Shannon VanRaes photo)

Carbon price worries farmers, fertilizer makers

Winnipeg/Toronto | Reuters — Canada’s plan to price carbon emissions may weaken the farm sector in one of the biggest grain-shipping countries, raising farmers’ costs and discouraging investment in fertilizer production, industry groups say. Ottawa this month promised a price on carbon emissions by 2018, and will let provinces choose a tax or cap-and-trade system. […] Read more


Kansas-based Great Plains Manufacturing, whose 3S-3000HD drill is shown here, is set to become an arm of Japanese manufacturer Kubota. (GreatPlainsAg.com)

Kubota to buy equipment maker Great Plains

Japanese farm, construction, yard and landscaping equipment maker Kubota is set to expand its share in several of those sectors with a deal for Kansas equipment firm Great Plains Manufacturing. Kubota, which has had a strategic alliance with Great Plains for implements in the U.S. since 2007, announced Friday it will buy 100 per cent […] Read more

Record-low summerfallow expected

CNS Canada — Changing farm practices and moving world markets over the years have seen shifts in the makeup of the crops grown in Canada — but the most noticeable change in the past three decades may be the amount of land seeded to nothing. Heading into the 2016 growing season, Canadian farmers say they […] Read more

(Dave Bedard file photo)

Second avian flu control zone set up in SW Ontario

A federal control zone has been officially set up for a 10-kilometre radius around the Oxford County chicken farm that’s home to Ontario’s second outbreak of H5N2 avian flu. This control zone, which covers ground in both Oxford County and Waterloo County, is an “internationally accepted practice,” meant to allow export business to continue from non-infected […] Read more