John Deere plans to have its autonomous 8R tractor at dealers in 2022.

(Guest) Editorial: Choices in autonomy grow

John Deere’s recent announcement that it will be selling autonomous 8R tractors for tillage this year elicited a not-surprising reaction from farmers. It was a mixed response, as is often the case for new technology, especially technology that might significantly change something they’ve been doing and, in many cases, liked doing, for generations. This isn’t

Editorial: The world of unknowns

A few years back, the world made a lot of fun of the late Donald Rumsfeld, formerly the defence secretary in the George W. Bush administration, over his comments about the war in Iraq. His statement, albeit delivered in tortured syntax that fired up the emerging mockery machine was, essentially: There are things we know.


woman drinking milk

(Guest) Editor’s take: Marketing versus educating

It’s annual meeting season, and some of the highlights for me are the updates on marketing efforts and consumer outreach. I’ve attended numerous annual meetings, and I’m amazed at the exciting and creative approaches. Highlighting the farmer or farmers who produce agricultural products has been the focus of many campaigns in the last decade. Educating

Editor’s Take: On rent-seeking

If you’ve already read Allan Dawson’s story featured on the front page of our Mar. 10 issue of the Co-operator, there’s a fairly high likelihood you’re feeling a bit sour. In it he details the work done by agricultural economist Ryan Cardwell on the topic of ‘rent-seeking’ behaviour generally, and how farmers are particularly good


Rescuers work at a residential building damaged by recent shelling, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Chernihiv, Ukraine March 3, 2022.

Editor’s Take: Winds of war

As I write this editorial Kyiv, capital of Ukraine, is under attack by Russian troops, as Russian leader Vladimir Putin attempts to assert a new world order… one that happens to look a lot like the old world order. The former KGB agent-turned politician and head of the crony-capitalism oligarchy that replaced the Soviet Union

Editor’s Take: Managing short supply

Early on in the pandemic I recall standing in line in the cold outside Costco, waiting for my turn to get into the store. As I waited, more or less patiently, I noticed several hastily made signs on printer paper that lined the crowd control fences — or perhaps ‘human corral’ might be a more


Editorial: Farm face of protest unhelpful

Like many Canadians watching the pandemic protests unfold across the country, it’s taken me some time to sort out how I feel about it all. Everyone loves a parade. No one likes the pandemic restrictions. We’d all like to be done with COVID-19. The question is, restrictions or not, whether it’s done with us. As



Editor’s Take: Eastbound and down

There’s been a lot of noise generated around a trucker convoy to Ottawa protesting vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers. As our Alexis Stockford reports in our Feb. 3 issue, some of the supporters included Manitoba farmers. And some of the province’s farm groups expressed some muted support for the goals, especially when framed as keeping