It would seem the more work and effort Ontario farmers put in to reducing neonicotinoid use and improving bee health, the less the provincial government and farmers' own ministry wants to do with them. The Grain Farmers of Ontario recently released its pollinator health blueprint. It's a practical, well thought-out and realistic plan, with set... Read More
Category: Eastern Canada
The Canadian government has announced $1.83 million for an research project involving international partners looking at potatoes and potato pests at a genetic level. Parliamentary Secretary Gerald Keddy, on behalf of Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, announced the funding Fredericton on Tuesday. According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, researchers will use new data about the DNA... Read More
Perhaps you're already acquainted with the wild world of theoretical yields. A theoretical yield is a measure of the genetic potential a plant has, if absolutely nothing hampered yield — not the growing season, environment or pests. Can you guess what soybeans' theoretical yield is? Roughly 350 bushels an acre. Outlandish? Well, it sort of... Read More
The occupation "farmer" shows up in more than a few Top 10 lists — like "The 10 most trustworthy roles," for example. But there's one Top 10 list that we'd all rather not have made where farmers hold the number 9 spot. That's the Top 10 list of most dangerous jobs in North America. It's... Read More
Have you seen the NIMBY principle in action? It stands for "not in my backyard," and it shows up in all manner of ways in agriculture — from the downplaying of potential problems, to perceptions on herbicide resistant weeds. How prevalent is it? In this second installment of Real Agriculture's podcast focused on herbicide resistant... Read More
A proposal for a one-million-acre set-aside for pollinators in Ontario by 2018 sounds like something a government or activists would propose, and farmers would lose their minds over. What? A million acres in a province losing 350 acres of prime farmland a day to development? But now, this set-aside program, the gemstone in the new... Read More
Versatile has developed a new DeltaTrack for low-speed, high-torque requirements, the company has announced. Called the DeltaTrack Creeper, the tractor is the first of its kind to be factory-approved for use in low speed applications such as tile plowing. The DeltaTrack Creeper is based on the DeltaTrack Scraper Special but will run in-field at a... Read More
The USDA came and went this week with another WASDE report that was basically a “nothing-to-see-here” release, as the big story to watch is the Grain Stocks and Prospective Plantings report due at the end of March. However, you could look at in the sense that this report gives us a relatively flexible floor as... Read More
You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but sometimes looks really don't matter. Take misshapen and imperfect fruits and veggies, for instance. Until now, they've been chopped and whirred into soup or sometimes straight into compost instead of hitting store shelves. That's despite the fact that much of this "too ugly"... Read More
Jeff Leal, Ontario's minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, will meet with the Grain Farmers of Ontario (GFO) on March 26th, 2015. The minister's office says this is to meet with new GFO chair Mark Brock. This meeting follows shortly after the release of the producer group's Pollinator Health Blueprint. The GFO's blueprint is... Read More