Dairy farmers who make the switch to robot milkers are very predictable, says Brussels, Ontario farmer Joe Terpstra. When Terpstra and three other dairy producers took to the stage at the 2016 Canadian Dairy XPO to share their experiences with robot milking, all four seemed to be singing from the same songbook. Improved cow health,... Read More
Category: Eastern Canada
Inspired by Jimmy Kimmel's Mean Tweets videos where celebrities read less-than-thoughtful messages sent their way on Twitter, some (celebrity) farmers and people involved in the ag industry have produced "Mean Tweets, Farming Edition." Whether it's the emotions involved in food or something else, people send some pretty nasty tweets to farmers and people involved in... Read More
I had hoped to get this interview out on Friday, as a celebration (as you'll hear) of Earth Day and National Soil Conservation Week in our country. As unfortunate circumstances would have it, work piled up, and eventually the weekend (whatever that is) knocked on the office door. My original intent behind interviewing Jill Clapperton,... Read More
Many of the new innovations from machinery companies at Agritechnica's 2015 show seemed to be inspired by transportation issues, and the Seagull Telescopic Reel from STW srl Italy was no exception. The harvester header combines the aforementioned telescopic reel technology with a folding cutting platform to compress widths during transport, allowing the header to shrink... Read More
Guelph-based crop protection company Engage Agro is selling a minority stake in its business to a Belgian company that also sells crop protection products for specialty crops, including potatoes and vegetables. Belchim Crop Protection is paying an undisclosed amount in a deal that's supposed to be completed in May. While the company says it will... Read More
The cool, wet spring weather in Ontario will likely continue through the planting season, although conditions will be more moderate, says Drew Lerner, ag meteorologist with World Weather Inc. "We're going to be a little slow getting moving because there is going to be an ongoing tendency for cooler-biased conditions to prevail," he says. "It's... Read More
I sat beside a semi-retired oilfield executive on a plane recently. “I’ve got a book in me,” he said, when he found out I was a writer. “I’ve lived all over the place and done a lot.” When I asked him for an example, he talked about how he still drove his 1999 pick up,... Read More
Does a cow need to have a calf to give milk? The answer should be obvious, but more than 70% of consumers get the question wrong explains University of Guelph associate professor Mike Von Massow. A majority of Canadians also believe that a chicken is processed for meat when it reaches four years of age.... Read More
Grains shot out of the cannon this week as heavy trading volumes propelled markets to new multi-month highs. Soybeans led the charge, thanks to concerns over the size of the Argentinian harvest. With soybean markets rallying well above the $10/bushel handle, profits were taken and the complex settled below the coveted double-digit level before weekend... Read More
80 percent of planter setup should be done before the unit leaves the yard. That's the work that can be completed before the weather and soil are ready for putting seed in the ground. But not everything can be calibrated before heading out to the field. In this Corn School episode, Shaun Dilliott of Kearney... Read More