I don't think teachers, lawyers, government bureaucrats and doctors would put up with such low wages, so why should farmers? Unfortunately, dairy farms aren't like other free-market businesses. This translates into a $50,000 loss for the average size dairy farm and is the major reason for the loss of dairy farms in Vermont, the Northeast and the nation. in the morning just as you were starting to milk the cows? As a dairy farmer, you'd know how to fix that long contraption of steel chains...

Thieves target heavy machinery. A number of recent large equipment thefts has Vernon RCMP seeking the publics assistance. The suspects removed a computerized control panel, which rendered the machine inoperable for some time and is costly to replace. Therefore police are asking anyone who might notice suspicious activity around a construction site after hours to call the police. Watch the Morning Star video (QuickTime) Over the past few weeks two Caterpillar skid steers have been stolen,...

Nineteen of the tractors are in running condition and seven of them are parts tractors on his farm in the town of Clayton three miles north of Larsen. The family harvests about 700 acres of hay each year with most of it sold as horse feed. However, seven of the tractors in the Ory stable are turbo-charged, which gives each 20 or more additional horsepower. The tractors don't sit around in a shed collecting dust. The tractors have mid-range power with 62 to 66 power takeoff horsepower. They...

This year less than one tenth of the targeted wheat crop has been planted due to a shortage of tractors among other shortages of equipment and inputs. Zimbabwe s farming areas are divided into communal lands which have long been farmed by subsistence farmers and resettlement areas, which used to be farmed by whites before 2000. Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono has become increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of recovery of the agricultural sector, thrown into disarray by the launch...

Only last year, former Finance minister Herbert Murerwa in his 2007 budget speech promised the nation that the government would institute measures to contain expenditure. THIS week the central bank and government once again dug deep into their reserves of invention to find the cure to hyperinflation which is wreaking havoc on the economy. In December 2005 the government ruled it would "compulsorily acquire" any farming equipment and material left behind by white farmers. Piled-up equipment...