Recent growth in farm land pricing has outpaced land's earning capacity. What does this mean for the farm? It means, among many other things, that land is more than even before an indicator of wealth and a business asset in the farming economy. This is good news for farmers who own land, however, it creates... Read More
Category: Eastern Canada
The University of Guelph has received a $750,000 donation to help support and preserve pollinator health through sustainable pest management. The donation from Bayer CropScience Inc. was made to the BetterPlanet Project, the University’s $200-million fundraising campaign for teaching and research in food, environment, health and communities. Among other projects, the gift will support the... Read More
Farm Management Canada (FMC) is bringing back its annual Agricultural Excellence Conference, starting in Winnipeg, November 19-21 2014. The Agricultural Excellence Conference is focused on bringing diverse industry experts and stakeholders together from across disciplines, regions and commodity sectors to share and explore beneficial farm management practices, advice, and insight with leading farm business thinkers,... Read More
As the cool, wet spring drags on in Ontario, many farmers are wrestling with whether they have time for tillage or should they just plant as soon as the soil is fit. In this episode of the Agronomy Geeks Ontario podcast, Bernard Tobin talks tillage strategy with Salford Farm Machinery's Jim Boak. Are certain types... Read More
Grain markets this week were up and down with the close of one month, the transition to a new front-month contract, and trade limits changing on the exchanges. Also affecting things were the U.S. Wheat Quality Council’s winter wheat crop tour in Kansas and some violent weather in the Delta. All in all, if there’s... Read More
Farmers often hear about the years of work and painstaking trials it takes to bring a new crop variety to market, but how many years do you think it takes for a new crop protection product to make it to market? Randy Smith of Dow AgroSciences sits down with RealAgriculture editor Shaun Haney to discuss... Read More
The 2014 planting season isn't exactly kicking off with a bang. A hard winter, a slow spring and continued rain has been hard on winter wheat fields and has got planting off to a very slow start. While soybeans aren't the first priority to get in the ground (they do require warm soil, after all),... Read More
Earlier this week, Ontario's Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk confirmed what people in Ontario's horse racing industry have known and lived through for the past two years. In the Auditor General's special report on the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Modernization Plan and cancellation of the Slots-At-Racetracks Program (SARP), Lysyk concluded that “OLG developed its Modernization Plan... Read More
The Ontario government has announced a program to help beekeepers rebuild their colonies, as a means to maintain the essential role honeybees play in the pollination of agricultural crops. Harsh winter conditions and ongoing health threats, such as from varroa mites or other pests, have knocked back bee populations. The province is anticipating higher than... Read More
The devil is in the details of a new two-year pilot program in Ontario designed to bring local food and wine together in farmers’ markets. But if the agri-food sector has enough patience to see it through, I believe everyone involved – farmers, wineries and consumers – can come out on top. Starting tomorrow, Ontario’s... Read More