Canola seed companies are releasing more varieties with claims they have reduced susceptibility to sclerotinia, but how do they determine those ratings? Coming off a season with high sclerotinia pressure, what does it mean if a variety is labelled as 'partially resistant'? In 2011, the Western Canadian Canola/Rapeseed Recommending Committee started searching for a test…Read More
Category: Western Canada
A wet harvest has led some Western Canadian farmers to make the switch from tires to tracks on combines, tractors and grain carts. "The tracks are going to give you the decrease in slippage and a bit of extra floatation, and that's what people are looking for right now," notes Marla Riekman, soil management specialist... Read More
Crop hail insurance claims in Western Canada were up around 50 percent in 2016 versus last year. The number of claims rose from 13,222 in 2015 to 19,854 in 2016, according to the Canadian Crop Hail Association's final report for the season. It's estimated payouts to farmers will total just over $256 million — well... Read More
You've likely seen Environment Canada's Tweet celebrating #WorldFoodDay and thanking farmers...well, some farmers. If not, here it is: Today is #WorldFoodDay. Thanks Farmers! Let’s help keep the planet healthy and productive. Tips here: https://t.co/D4WBHIjjU8 — Environment Canada (@environmentca) October 16, 2016 Seems nice enough, yeah? Well, then you follow the link. It doesn't lead to... Read More
Ontario dairy co-op Gay Lea Foods and BC-based dairy ingredient supplier Vitalus Nutrition have announced a joint investment in dairy processing in Manitoba. The joint venture's plans include upgrading an existing food processing plant in Winnipeg, which will increase drying capacity in Western Canada and expand butter production. “Gay Lea Foods is excited by the... Read More
Ontario’s corn crop is showing high vomitoxin levels and growers are being urged to harvest as quickly as possible to preserve corn quality. Last week, the OMAFRA Field Crops team revealed that 26% of the samples taken in its annual vomitoxin survey had DON concentrations of 2.0 ppm or greater. At these levels, vomitoxin produced…Read More
Just east of Westlock, Alberta, whole fields of standing canola are encased in ice. This latest storm that rolled through late Saturday night was insult added to the injury of five to ten inches of snow that fell Friday, October 14, 2016. These scenes at Westlock aren't rare right now: huge areas of central and... Read More
It all comes down to more acres per day for John Deere’s new F4365 high capacity nutrient applicator. At the recent Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, John Deere product manager Jason Beuligmann showcased the new, 330-cubic-feet dry spinner spreader. He explained that the company’s engineers had two goals in mind for the design –... Read More
While there have been a few days lately where cattle values have ended the day in the green, the trend is still headed lower. And quickly. Cattle futures are now at levels we haven't seen since the fourth quarter of 2010. "We haven't been here for a long time. We really weren't expecting these levels... Read More
Grains this week got some love from the bulls as the market rallied on some short covering, strong international demand, and harvest concerns (also known as weather premiums). Wheat was the big winner of the week, climbing 6.5%, with oats and corn following closely behind at 4.8% and 4.7% higher on the week for front-month... Read More