Dead battery? Don’t panic, plug in the Muscle Man

Dead battery? Don’t panic, plug in the Muscle Man

Our History: November 1976

Blanchard was seeking 200 farmers to sell the Muscleman battery charger/booster along with 100 items on commission in this ad in our Nov. 25, 1976 issue. The front page reported that Manitoba’s crop yields for the year were up, but income was expected down because of lower prices. The provincial average wheat yield was 27.1

The Campbell Farming Corporation

The Campbell Farming Corporation

Our History: November 1928

The November 1928 front page of our predecessor publication The Scoop Shovel featured photos of the Campbell Farming Corporation in Montana. Wikipedia says that “Thomas D. Campbell (1882–1966) was the ‘World’s Wheat King.’ On the farms of his Campbell Farming Corporation he grew more wheat than any other farmer or corporation. He pioneered industrialized corporate


Crow era ends on the Prairies

Crow era ends on the Prairies

Our History: November 1983

Our Nov. 24, 1983 issue reported the end of a long and contentious era in Prairie grain history when royal assent was given to a bill ending the Crowsnest freight rate. While the end of the below-cost rate may not have been welcomed by farmers, it was by CP Rail, which immediately announced it was

Endless savings on diesel fuel

Endless savings on diesel fuel

Our History: October 1981

Style and cab comfort were features promoted in this ad for the International Harvester S-Series Sundance truck in our Oct. 29, 1981 issue. If you were buying one on credit, the interest rate would have been more that 20 per cent, and our main front-page story that week was on a spat between federal Agriculture


Lands for sale on easy terms

Lands for sale on easy terms

Our History: October 1886

If you were looking to start farming in 1886, there was plenty of land to choose from in these advertisements in the Oct. issue of the Nor-West Farmer and Manitoba Miller. The Hudson’s Bay Company was offering seven million acres and the Manitoba and North-Western Railway 2.75 million acres. The unnamed author of an article

Grain toll proposed for St. Lawrence Seaway

Grain toll proposed for St. Lawrence Seaway

Our History: October 1958

Farmers’ returns were a theme running through our issues in October 1958. In the main front-page story in the Oct. 9 issue, we reported that the three Prairie pools had raised concerns with Prime Minister John Diefenbaker about the prospect of tolls on grain going through the newly opened St. Lawrence Seaway. Their brief said


‘Freer trade pact’ lifts tariffs

‘Freer trade pact’ lifts tariffs

Our History: October 1987

Canada-U.S. trade was also in the news in October 1987 and stories in our Oct. 8 issue analyzed the effect of the newly signed Canada-U.S. Trade Agreement (CUSTA) on agricultural commodities. For grains, Canada would give up the wheat board’s import controls, which would be lifted on oats and barley as early as 1989. The

Flooded fields and feed shortages

Flooded fields and feed shortages

Our History: September 2008

This image of a flooded field near Eddystone appeared in our Sept. 18, 2008 issue. Hayfields in the Interlake were going unharvested after weeks of drenching rains, and the week before about 250 local producers had met to discuss ways of dealing with the impending feed shortage. The blow came just as the cattle industry


Conditions ripe for fusarium, vomitoxin in wheat

Conditions ripe for fusarium, vomitoxin in wheat

Our History: September 1985

The front page of the Sept. 5, 1985 issue reported that trace amounts of fusarium and vomitoxin were being found in Manitoba wheat after a wet, cool growing season. Wet weather was to continue and harvesting was delayed, with particular damage reported to that year’s potato crop. On Sept. 19 we reported that there had