The darkest days in the flax industry are in the past and the future is looking bright, according to the head of the Flax Council of Canada. There's excitement surrounding flax, with new and more-diversified demand, stronger prices and a renewed effort to improve agronomic aspects of flax production, says Don Kerr, the new president... Read More
Category: Crop Production
The Western Grains Research Foundation is kicking off a five-year $4.32 million agronomic research initiative looking at crop production from a multi-crop, rotational perspective. While in Saskatoon on Friday, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and Saskatchewan MP Kelly Block announced Ottawa will match WGRF's investment of up to $2.16 million in its "Systems Approach to Crop... Read More
As little as 2% green seed in a canola sample can cause the loss of a No. 1 grade in Canada, traditionally equating to roughly $10-15/tonne. Immature canola seed naturally contains chlorophyll, a green pigment essential for photosynthesis. As canola seeds mature, enzymes remove the chlorophyll, a process thought to improve seed longevity. The enzymes... Read More
Named in June, but celebrated this week in Des Moines, Iowa, Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram of India and Mexico was awarded the World Food Prize for his work in wheat breeding and development. Working hand-in-hand with Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug, Rajaram bred an impressive 480 varieties of wheat to provide nutritious grains resistant to rust... Read More
If you had winter wheat aerial-applied or broadcast on in September, you may want to get out there and look at what you've got. Reports of major slug damage are trickling in, with some fields reporting as high as 95% damage to wheat kernels left on the soil surface. As Peter Johnson, provincial cereal specialist... Read More
Had another busy week? Here's some listening material that will get you up-to-speed on farm news from the last seven days. Kelvin Heppner discusses the recent slide (or "correction") in stock markets, the latest on U.S. country of origin labeling, quality problems in pulses, World Food Day and much more. Here's the "This Week on... Read More
The federal government has committed $3 million to the Flax Council of Canada for research in flax genetics and agronomics. Winnipeg MP Joyce Bateman announced the investment in Winnipeg this morning. "Creating new flax varieties and improving agronomics will increase producers’ profitability and allow processors and exporters to continue selling a high-quality product around the... Read More
The Official Grain Grading Guide, developed by the Canadian Grain Commission, lists all kinds of factors influencing the grade of Canadian pulses. From colour to odour, disease to damage, there's a lot to consider when harvesting grains, and particularly, those incredibly sensitive pulses. Related: Third-Party Grade Could Be Useful In Marketing Crop With Variable Quality... Read More
A joint initiative of the Manitoba Canola Growers Association and Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development is working to map the incidence of clubroot spores in Manitoba. With funding through the federal government's Growing Forward 2's Growing Actions program, the Pest Surveillance Initiative (PSI) is working to map clubroot incidence on a township-range basis. If... Read More
This week, October 13 to 20, 2014, SeCan celebrates its second year of the Grow a Leader program to support 4-H in Canada. For every bag of selected varieties of soybean seed farmers buy this week, SeCan will donate $1 to 4-H Canada. According to Jeff Reid, SeCan General Manager, “This is a perfect opportunity... Read More