Shaun Haney

The Saskatchewan agricultural industry is dealing with some sad news this week after the passing of former agricultural minister, Lyle Stewart. I have fond memories of my personal encounters with Lyle as the agriculture minister. Stewart’s tenure as ag minister overlaps with RealAgriculture really ramping up in the field activities (the early to mid 2010s)…

The first milestone toward gaining a clearer picture of the future of North America trade was reached in Mexico this week, as Claudia Sheinbaum, former mayor of Mexico City and an environmental engineer, won the presidential election in a landslide victory. Sheinbaum, a member of the left-wing and populist Morena party, was endorsed by outgoing…

New survey data shows around half of farms that have farmland rental agreements up for renewal this year are expecting rental rates to increase, with some anticipating a significant jump in the land rent component of their cost of production. Rising land rent costs are coinciding with the increasing cost of owning land, as borrowing costs and farmland values have climbed. In collaboration with MNP, RealAgristudies looked at land rental agreements in the April Canadian Farmer Sentiment Index survey. The Friday Issues Panel on RealAg Radio included the discussion below on some of the key survey findings: 55% of farmers plan to renew land rental agreements this year, a figure which some say...

Farmers across Canada are feeling varying levels of certainty about their ability to market their crops effectively at a time when the market has bounced off of the lows seen through the winter months, according to the latest survey for the Canadian Farmer Sentiment Index, conducted by RealAgristudies. Note: The Canadian Farmer Sentiment Index is…

Southern Alberta has been in a multi-year drought, so when the most substantial snowfall in, well, years, fell last week, there's been plenty of talk of how to keep the snow where it is in hopes it percolates in to the soil. There's also been action, and one farmer's innovative approach to water conservation has sparked plenty of discussion. Shaun Haney and Peter Johnson recently discussed (at the 8:21 mark) an experimental practice that could offer a glimmer of hope to parched farmlands: rolling snow to create a compact snowpack, thereby preserving moisture before it's lost to the relentless prairie winds. Kara Oosterhuis, formerly a field reporter with RealAgriculture, alongside her family, decided to take an unconventional approach to holding...

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers is out with their February 2024 sales reports for new machinery in Canada and the United States. Softer projected profitability in 2024 is being reflected in machinery sales early in the calendar year. Sales in the United states are lower across all categories year-to-date. Two-wheel drive tractors are down 14.4%, four-wheel drive tractors are down 7.2% and combines are down 18.9%. In Canada new equipment sales of tractors are also weaker in comparison…

As I make my way across Canada and the U.S. in the first part of 2023, I am very struck by the hatred that farmers have for the word sustainability. It seems that the word spawns real contempt for an urban consumer that misunderstands the activities on the farm. Sustainability is everywhere. It always has been, but now it’s entrenched in marketing and government policy. This reality is what has farmers so angry and pushing back against the word sustainability. I think if we really dig in to what…

With the expansion of domestic canola crush capacity in Western Canada, the term “renewable diesel” is being mentioned much more frequently. Many growers are familiar with biodiesel, but the two are different and not interchangeable. Although they can come from the same feedstocks, such as vegetable oil, the process of making them is different. Ian Thomson, president of Advanced Biofuels, defines the three types of fuel in the following ways: Biodiesel is the original. It’s made through a simpl…

The uptake of mobile technology by farmers has been very documented and discussed on our site.  Another app has hit the app store to improve farmer’s efficiency and productivity while on the go. At Canada’s Farm Progress show in Regina, Shaun Haney, RealAgriculture.com Founder,  talked to Matt Van Dijk about FCC’s new mobile app that…

RealAgriculture.com growing, hires new Editor Veteran ag journalist Lyndsey Smith will manage content across all platforms and channels at RealAgriculture.com Picture Butte, AB – April 30, 2012 – A year-over-year doubling of online traffic at RealAgriculture.com has enabled the company to hire one of the country’s top ag journalists to manage content creation and planning….