Ottawa | Reuters — Protests in Canada against vaccine mandates have disrupted two key U.S. border crossings, and are snarling hundreds of millions of dollars daily of trade, ranging from cattle to car parts. Demonstrations who at first demanded an end to federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers began Jan. 28 in the […] Read more
Pandemic border protests strand cattle and car parts
CNH Industrial bets on strong market to counter worst supply chain situation
Milan | Reuters – Italian-American vehicle maker CNH Industrial on Friday raised its revenue and free cash flow forecasts for this year, confident an industry cyclical upturn would help it offset a severe impact from supply chain constraints. “It’s the worst supply chain situation I’ve seen in my career,” Chief Executive Scott Wine told analysts. […] Read more
‘Essential’ travel rule fuzzy on farmers picking up parts, inputs
U.S. border officers will have final say on Canadian farmers' cross-border business trips
Whether Canadian farmers can continue to pick up machinery parts and other products for their operations in the United States is at the discretion of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. At 11:59 p.m. ET Friday, Canada and the U.S. temporarily restricted non-essential travel between the two nations to try and slow the spread of […] Read more
Machinery costs driving up fixed farming expenses
MarketsFarm — Fixed costs on farms continue to rise year-over-year, a statistic largely attributed to increasing land values and interest rates. At the beginning of 2019, Farm Credit Canada (FCC) reported farmland values across Canada increased by an average of 6.6 per cent during the previous year. But that’s not the main driver of fixed […] Read more
Deere bets on cost cuts, services push to boost profits
Chicago | Reuters — Deere and Co. on Wednesday said it will cut costs and ramp up investment in data-driven agriculture technology and its services business to make itself more profitable. In a pitch to investors, CEO John May said the measures are expected to boost operating profit margin to 15 per cent by 2022 […] Read more
CNH Industrial cuts revenue guidance for second time
Company sticks to earnings per share forecast
Milan | Reuters – Italian-American machinery maker CNH Industrial trimmed its forecast for full-year revenue for a second time this year after lower sales volumes and exchange rate factors weighed on results in the third quarter. CNH Industrial, which makes most of its profit from farming machinery, Iveco commercial vehicles, construction equipment and powertrains, said net sales of […] Read more
Ag sector growth will take investments in skills, tech now: RBC
One of Canada’s big six banks bets the agriculture sector’s gross domestic product could rise by nearly 60 per cent over the next decade if it were to have enough people, capital and access to new technology where ag lives. A report released by RBC on Tuesday titled “Farmer 4.0” estimates Canadian ag GDP could […] Read more
Keep your young workers and children safe at harvest
Don’t assume workers know ‘the basics’ and build a separate safe play area for young children
Reading Time: 1 minute Harvest is the peak season for agricultural-related injuries and fatalities, and new and young workers have a higher rate of injury on the job. “Always take the time to first go through the activity of training the youth, even if it feels repetitive or redundant — this will ensure they learn and practise the safest […] Read more
Meet DOT: the self-driving power implement
A Saskatchewan-based company has developed an autonomous tractor — minus the tractor
Reading Time: 6 minutes Bigger doesn’t always mean better — but that’s been the story of farm machinery for decades. However, could the era of huge, hulking tractors and the big implements they pull be coming to an end? Norbert Beaujot thinks so, even though the founder of SeedMaster spent most of his career building some of those increasingly […] Read more
Are you ready to step out of the cab forever?
Special Report: Will farming make a u-turn? Those long, long hours seeding can be drudgery but watching fields being sown on a tablet is brand new territory
Reading Time: 3 minutes Autonomous farm equipment would not only radically change how crops are produced, but the lives of farmers themselves. Norbert Beaujot thinks they will embrace being freed from the tractor cab. “At one end of the scale you get the young, 35- to 40-year-old farmer who really wants to get going with anything new and high […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
