Philip Shaw

2019 is turning out to be quite a spring. That is for inaction on my farm. Constant rains including another tonight have meant that hardly anything is done with regard to spring planting in southwestern Ontario. For myself, I have not turned a wheel, even though I’ve been getting ready to plant for the past…

Over my career, I’ve seen more than a few things happen, which I never expected. So when the Beyond Meat’s stock market value topped $3 billion today on the stock market, it was just another day. Never could I have ever imagined a day a few years ago when “fake meat” would be all the…

In this part of the world we had 2 inches of rain last weekend, which has essentially put a bit of a damper on spring planting. Aside from a few sugar beets in the ground corn planting is really hasn’t got out of the gate. That seems to be the case across the Eastern corn…

It is about that time of year again. By the time you read this I might be planting corn even though rain has inundated southwestern Ontario over the last few days. Sometimes in this part of the world March can be so beautiful we start thinking of planting corn quite early. In fact, I have…

It is that time of year again, when I pull my machinery out of the shed. There are always a few surprises, with much depending on the condition of things when I put it away last fall. The fall of 2018 was incredibly difficult because of the harsh weather as well as the DON outbreak…

Here we are again in April. It’s a time of anticipation in Ontario and Quebec farm country as planters are being pulled out of sheds across Eastern Canada. Your loyal scribe does the same thing, and after I blow the dust off, I always try and harken back to the problems I may have had…

It has being about nine years since I bought my last farm. At this age now I don’t think I’ll be buying another one, but you never know. Sometimes opportunity knocks, but of course in 2019 land prices are a little bit different than they used to be. It’s hard to imagine that we used…

It is hard to believe but we are losing February tonight and turning into March. In this part of Ontario winter so far has been kind, albeit I say that lightly because there are still three weeks of winter to go. The slow march to spring continues and won’t be long before corn planters are…

  Wintertime is not my favorite time of year. When I was younger I really enjoy cross-country skiing and playing hockey and basketball during the Canadian winter we have here in southwestern Ontario. I must say, as I grow older I like winter less and less. However, this current winter in southwestern Ontario has not…

One of my favorite topics of discussion is agricultural price discovery. It’s not as sexy as a new tractor or cover crops, but to me it is one of the most fascinating things to think about in the realm of agricultural marketing. When does the price of corn make sense? When does the price of…