As universities encourage researchers to collaborate with industry, activists are looking to discredit academics they declare to be compromised. This week, an American anti-GMO activist organization, U.S. Right to Know, convinced someone at CBC that University of Saskatchewan professor Dr. Peter Phillips has been compromised by Monsanto. The attack is similar to others carried out... Read More
Category: Eastern Canada
If you asked consumers about whether grocery bills are going up or down, they would likely say up. According to market analyst Kevin Grier and Statistics Canada, the data suggests otherwise. Food deflation continued again in March, with declines across the store in staples, meat, and consumer packaged goods. According to Statistics Canada, the Consumer... Read More
In order to get the $66 billion purchase of Monsanto finalized, Bayer has agreed to sell its LibertyLink trait and herbicide portfolio, according to Reuters. The Competition Commission of South Africa announced the stipulation earlier this week, to which Bayer has reportedly agreed. The divestiture of some traits doesn't come as a surprise to most,... Read More
Farmers have gotten used to food companies bowing to the desires and demands of animal activists. It seems rare for a mainstream food company to stand behind the methods and practices of farmers and ranchers across the United States and Canada. Outside of McDonald's Canada, the list seems quite short at times (and, yes, they're... Read More
I often think that when we discuss precision agriculture we tend to naturally focus on large broadacre-style farming across the U.S. Midwest corn belt, Ontario, and the western Canadian prairies. We don't seem to talk about how precision agriculture technology could create a difference in small-holder agriculture. Clearly, auto-steer is not something you must have... Read More
It was a wild and crazy run for the cattle markets this week, and the weekend could be the breather that funds and feedyards need. June live cattle finished the week up 3.45 percent, even with the severe limit down drop on Friday. In the last three months June cattle are up 21.44 percent, which... Read More
Precision agriculture counts on not only data collection, but also on data management as well. And while a new survey of 700 farmers across Canada shows most producers are indeed gathering agronomic data electronically, many are not yet using that data for management purposes. The survey, which took place over three weeks in November and... Read More
It's hard to imagine drought being a problem in parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan that still haven't finished last year's harvest due to wet conditions, but weather forecaster AccuWeather suggests conditions could turn quickly this summer. As Brett Anderson, senior meteorologist and Canadian weather specialist for the Pennsylvania-based weather company, explains in the interview below,... Read More
Grain markets saw a wild ride to start the month of May as the week started out with big concerns about weather before cooler heads prevailed and bullish gains made earlier in the week were reined in. Oats were the big winner, up 8% since last Friday on the futures board on planting delays. Canola... Read More