Category: Western Canada

As the smell of barbecue fills the air in many neighbourhoods, this is normally the time of year when cattle market highs are well behind us. But the market moved against that trend this week, as live and feeder cattle futures, as well as cash prices, climbed higher. In this week's edition of the Beef... Read More

For parts of Western Canada, the rain keeps on pouring. Early wet conditions could be conducive to root rot problems in pulses. Fortunately, for three of the four main culprits —rhyzoctonia, fusarium and pythium, the plants will generally grow through the vulnerable early seedling stage if a seed treatment has been applied, notes Robyne Bowness-Davidson,... Read More

This spring has been a challenge for many growers in the northern tier of Alberta and Saskatchewan due to wet conditions continuing from last fall. As it feels like crop insurance deadlines are screaming by, growers have limited choices on what to do with these potentially unseeded acres. There are basically three options: seed a... Read More

The federal government is moving toward establishing a national food policy that will revolve around four "pillars," but details on what it will look like beyond that have yet to be determined, according to Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay. The minister launched consultations, including an online survey, on establishing a national food policy in a speech... Read More

GrainsConnect Canada has announced plans to build a fourth grain terminal in Western Canada. Pending necessary approvals, the company will build a 35,000 tonne elevator at Huxley, Alberta (approximately 75km southeast of Red Deer.) GrainsConnect, a joint venture between Australia-based GrainCorp and Japanese ag co-op Zen-Noh, has three other elevators under construction, at Maymont and... Read More

2016 was likely the worst year on record for fusarium head blight (FHB) infection in Western Canada, as the disease has spread west and north since becoming a problem in southern Manitoba in the early 1990s. According to the Canada Grain Commission's harvest sample survey, almost a quarter of cereal samples in Alberta tested positive... Read More

In this episode of Wheat Pete's Word, RealAg Agronomist Peter Johnson wonders why insects are such a problem already, seeing as it's been a wet year, and that usually means the fields are full of disease, not bugs. He also dives into crop progress — what sort of advances have been made in Ontario, as... Read More

The U.S. anti-GMO activist organization that has targeted several dozen scientists and academics who have published research on the benefits of genetic engineering has set its sights on another researcher at the University of Saskatchewan. On May 18th, the school received a legal request from U.S. Right to Know (USRTK) to review emails sent by... Read More

Pulse crops tend to not be as competitive as other crops, such as cereals, which is why we refer to it as the critical weed free period early in the growing season. By definition, these are growth stages in the crop that must be kept weed free to prevent yield loss. In this Pulse School... Read More

With the United States' exit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the new administration says it's focusing on bilateral agreements instead of multilateral deals in its attempted execution of an "America first" ideology on all things, including trade. Now that President Trump has formally notified Congress of his desire to renegotiate NAFTA, the countdown has started... Read More