Following the discovery of a BSE-infected cow in the Canadian cow herd in 2003, cattle producers saw a 30% to sometimes more than 50% drop in prices. What’s more, the slammed-shut U.S. border impacted cattle flow south for years. In over a decade since the BSE crisis, the Canadian cattle industry hasn’t so much “recovered”... Read More
Category: Crops
What's the best call for adding potash? How much bang for your buck do you get from seed-placed blends? Are protected N sources worth the cost? Greg Stewart, corn specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, recently presented the top 10 corn production tips from 10 years of research and monitoring, and some... Read More
Quite simply, agricultural spray adjuvants are chemicals added to a herbicide to improve its effectiveness. This is done by improving retention, deposition and/or absorption of the chemical. In the United States, adjuvants are largely unregulated. In Canada, adjuvants are regulated by the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA). This means that adjuvants must be proven to... Read More
These are exciting times for farmers, as new cereal commissions, associations and industry groups crop up (sorry) offer farmers the chance to forge the path ahead for the wheat and barley industry's market development. Alberta was the first province to set up a development commission following the dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly powers... Read More
If you've got a GPS-equipped yield monitor in your combine, I have good news. You're already well on your way to developing a practical precision farming plan for your farm. Well of course I am, you say. But, if we're all being very honest here, what do you actually do with that yield map beyond... Read More
The newly created Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association (MWBGA) has cleared the final regulatory hurdle in creating a grower-driven organization. As of February 1, 2014, the group will begin collecting a refundable checkoff of $0.52/tonne of wheat and $0.50/tonne of barley. The checkoff will be collected by all buyers in Manitoba — feed mills... Read More
Earlier this month, the Canola Council of Canada rolled out its vision for the canola industry over the next decade or so. While the plan includes growth of the domestic and export markets, the plan has also sparked some discussion on tightening canola rotations. The Canola Council has shifted its canola rotation stance slightly —... Read More
Health Canada announced this week that products containing ground or milled flax may now sport a shiny new health claim on the label — that consuming milled or ground flax has been proven to lower levels of blood cholesterol. Elevated blood cholesterol levels have been identified as a major risk factor for developing heart disease.... Read More
Farmers do a great job of in-crop weed control, which is great, seeing as weeds competing with the crop for nutrients and sunlight steal from yield. That said, a recent survey suggests that farmers are missing a key window of time for weed control — the four-week window after winter wheat harvest — that could... Read More
We may not be able to change the weather, but we sure can have a super time anticipating what may — or may not — happen as we head towards the seeding season. Always a popular speaker, Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc., spoke to a packed house at CropSphere 2014, outlining current snow pack,... Read More