Grains this week were mixed as the USDA’s April WASDE report was published, and seeding starting in multiple areas across North America. Favourable weather conditions on the north half of the equator are competing with less favourable conditions in South America, which is why corn and soybeans ended the week up over 4% each (it... Read More
Category: Features
Few farmers would argue that getting more acres covered per hour is a priority during spraying season. The easiest way to cover more ground is to minimize the amount of time the sprayer spends standing still when conditions are conducive for spraying, emphasizes Tom Wolf of AgriMetrix and Sprayers101.com, in this TechTour episode. "A big... Read More
When thinking about risks to your farm, what comes to mind? Weather and market risks are usually at the top of the list, but there are many other areas where a farm business may be exposed. These risks are often unrecognized because nobody's taken the time to go through an exercise of assessing risks and... Read More
Farmland values across Canada continue to climb. Some very early seeding is beginning in the West, although there are concerns about dryness. Canada and the EU continue to work on their trade deal, and a popular reality TV veterinarian is showing how farmers care for their animals. We hear from FCC economist JP Gervais, trade... Read More
A springtime initiative launched earlier this week by the David Suzuki Foundation, fashioned after the iconic Got Milk? campaign of yore, asks “Got Milkweed, Canada?” It’s an initiative designed to get urban people to plant milkweed and provide a much-needed food source for North America’s precarious population of eastern monarch butterflies, which require milkweed for... Read More
From the Canada Pension Plan buying a stake in Viterra to the SaskParty easily winning the provincial election earlier this week to the big question mark hanging over Monsanto's new Xtend soybean seed heading into planting season, here's this week's podcast recapping what's happened in Canadian agriculture. We hear from Saskatchewan Ag Minister Lyle Stewart... Read More
John Deere wins at the Agritechnica's 2015 Innovation Awards had RealAgriculture representatives hopping in Hanover, Germany in November. You've already seen footage from their ProCut technology and their GoHarvest combine simulation system. In this episode of the TechTour, we move over to forage production, and Deere's "Active Fill Control Sync" (AFC Sync). Don't Miss Out:... Read More
While I tend to be pretty hard on companies and organizations that use fear-marketing to get a product off the shelf, I probably don’t give enough credit to those that market positively. McDonalds' plan to source Verified Sustainable Beef is one I’ve got some hope for. Their Vice-President of Sustainability says in a video “We... Read More
High fives all around for DuPont Pioneer. The newly minted global Access to Seeds Index — a measure of how leading seed companies are contributing to global food security — has named DuPont Pioneer the world’s best firm for trying to improve smallholder farmer productivity. Syngenta deserves kudos too; it isn’t far behind. In fact,... Read More
The grain markets ended the month of March with fanfare on the backs of the U.S.D.A.’s March 31st stocks and acreage report and China switching up some policy. Beijing decided to scrap its minimum support prices for corn, pushing domestic corn prices immediately down to 5-year lows as the domestic price needs to gap down... Read More