Having grown up on a farm in Canada, I'm not sure that using round-up to "ripen" crops is all that common in Canada, either. Certainly, my father never did it, and I don't know of anyone who does. He typically swaths the canola, and he has taken to straight cutting the wheat in recent years.
> he has taken to straight cutting the wheat in recent years.
What changed that allowed him to start straight cutting in recent years? You'd never prefer swathing over straight cutting, so there must have been good reason to not straight cut in the past.
To be honest, I am not entirely certain. I suspect it was simply access to a straight-cut header. As far as I know it isn't and never really was a problem to let the wheat dry standing up.
EDIT: The farm has been through three generations . . . things evolve over time.
> The farm has been through three generations . . . things evolve over time.
For sure. It is just interesting to me that it would take three generations to finally get a grain table for the combine given all the pitfalls of swathing. The very first horse-drawn combine built in the 1800s had a straight-cut header for harvesting wheat, so it is not exactly new tech or a new idea.
So, that's why I wondered what changed. Finally having enough money to buy one is certainly a reasonable answer. As a farmer myself, I know all about that.
EDIT: anecdata, I know.