Over the last few months, the Conservative leadership contest has thrust a highly emotional issue for rural Canada into the spotlight— is supply management worth keeping or not? If you aren’t aware of the issue, one candidate, Maxime Bernier, is looking to eliminate the system. The rest of the field of candidates have said they... Read More
Category: Western Canada
The combination of wet weather and the need to get this year's crop in the ground is producing a predictable result this spring: pictures of stuck tractors, trucks, and sprayers, even some combines, shared on Twitter, Facebook, and in the coffee shop. While photos of these situations can provide some level of humour for others,... Read More
This week's (almost!) cross-Canada Wheat Pete's Word is packed full of great questions, worries about cold temperatures, solid timely answers on field management, and at least one alert, alert, alert! Your host Peter Johnson tackles questions on harvesting cereal rye (soon! this week!) while keeping compaction in mind, if corn seed is going to be... Read More
Planting season can be a busy, chaotic time, but not paying attention to details, such as variation in seed size, can be costly and impact yield potential for the rest of the growing season. "There are no second chances as it relates to population. What you put in the ground now is what will make…Read More
Italy's government says it is moving ahead with a plan to implement mandatory country of origin labeling requirements on pasta, potentially impacting the competitiveness of Canadian durum wheat in one of its largest markets. The Italian government notified the European Commission about its intentions this week, according to the country's agriculture minister, Maurizio Martina. (As... Read More
Listen as canola growers and industry experts from across Western Canada discuss their straight cutting experiences and tips in this five-part podcast series presented by BASF. You won’t want to miss it. In episode 1 we’ll hear from Lee Erikson of Alberta. Since taking a stab at straight cutting almost 30 years ago, Lee was…Read More
The 2016 Census of Agriculture results were released on Wednesday, painting an overall picture of Canadian agriculture and how it has changed since the 2011 census. Here's a quick look at the high-level numbers: There were 193,492 farms counted in 2016, down 5.9 percent from 2011. However, this was the lowest rate of decline in... Read More
As universities encourage researchers to collaborate with industry, activists are looking to discredit academics they declare to be compromised. This week, an American anti-GMO activist organization, U.S. Right to Know, convinced someone at CBC that University of Saskatchewan professor Dr. Peter Phillips has been compromised by Monsanto. The attack is similar to others carried out... Read More
If you asked consumers about whether grocery bills are going up or down, they would likely say up. According to market analyst Kevin Grier and Statistics Canada, the data suggests otherwise. Food deflation continued again in March, with declines across the store in staples, meat, and consumer packaged goods. According to Statistics Canada, the Consumer... Read More
15 months ago, Jason Reinheimer flew with his family from Australia to Saskatoon to become the first employee and senior breeder for Limagrain Cereals Research Canada. Limagrain Cereals Research Canada, established in 2015, is a wheat breeding partnership between France-based Limagrain and Western Canada-based Canterra Seeds. In the video below, Reinheimer explains their breeding goals... Read More