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

A member of Wildfire Management Alberta’s Wild Mountain Unit pulls hose through smouldering forest in the Parsons Creek area of Fort McMurray on May 5. (Chris Schwarz photo courtesy Government of Alberta via Flickr)

Glacier pledges support for wildfire disaster relief

Farm Business Communications’ parent company, Glacier Media, is donating $50,000 toward the Canadian Red Cross’ disaster relief efforts in the Fort McMurray area. The Vancouver company said its donation is also on behalf of individual Glacier business units, which will undertake their own awareness and fundraising efforts to help the city and its residents rebuild […] Read more


(AOHVA.com)

Farming uses exempt from Alberta off-roading ban

Alberta’s new provincewide ban on recreational use of off-highway vehicles (OHVs) in provincial parks and on other public lands won’t apply to their use in farm work. The provincial government announced the temporary OHV ban Friday as “another tool… to help prevent the spread of wildfires,” on top of Thursday’s provincewide fire ban and its […] Read more

(Gloria Solano-Aguilar photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

West’s hog farmers urged to insist trailers cleaned in Canada

Hog industry officials in Western Canada want hog producers to insist that livestock trailers coming to their farms be washed at certified Canadian cleaning facilities — even if the trailers were just cleaned on the U.S. side of the border. The recommendation comes as a federally-approved trailer-wash pilot project, credited with helping to keep porcine epidemic diarrhea […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

Ottawa moves to extend expanded rail interswitching

Prairie crop growers hoping that changes in federal rail freight rules will continue past their expiration date are about to get their wish. Transport Minister Marc Garneau and Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay on Friday announced they would bring forward a resolution in Parliament to extend provisions of the previous government’s Bill C-30, the Fair Rail […] Read more



Crews replace lead-tainted water service lines at homes in Flint, Michigan in March. In view of the Flint emergency, other U.S. jurisdictions are expected to ramp up investment in water-related infrastructure. (CityofFlint.com)

Ad Feature: Edmonton firm acquires water works capacity

Edmonton-based Stantec Inc., an engineering and infrastructure consulting company, has announced the biggest deal in its 62-year history. The all-cash deal for Broomfield, Colorado-based MWH Global, which Stantec said is expected to close in the second quarter could increase Stantec’s annual revenues by about 60 per cent, to more than $4.5 billion, while its global […] Read more



(NSCorp.com)

CP scraps plans to buy Norfolk Southern

Reuters — Canadian Pacific Railway said on Monday it had scrapped efforts to buy Norfolk Southern, almost six months after it launched its unsolicited US$28 billion bid for the fourth-largest U.S. railroad operator. The announcement comes days after the U.S. Justice Department urged the Surface Transportation Board to reject a voting trust arrangement CP had […] Read more