On Friday, September 11, 2015 (a historic date in its own right), the USDA released its latest world agricultural supply and demand estimates. Most expectations going into the report were that the world crop soothsayers would keep things relatively mute on a global level, and downgrade U.S. production. Alas, the boys and girls in Washington,... Read More
Category: Western Canada
The Alberta Canola Producers Commission has decided it will no longer collect daily cash prices after the launch of the Alberta Wheat Commission's prairie-wide grain price reporting website this week. The ACPC has compiled and posted regional grain cash prices and weekly feedgrain price reports since assuming responsibility from the Alberta Grains Council in October... Read More
Farm Management Canada (FMC) and the Canadian Association of Diploma in Agriculture Programs (CADAP) have launched the 2015-16 Excellence Award for Agricultural Students, designed to encourage students to improve their critical thinking, communication and leadership skills through a national competition. FMC and CADAP are collecting submissions from agricultural students across Canada and will award three... Read More
If ever you’ve been frustrated or overwhelmed by making sure all your precision farming equipment and data can “talk” to each other, Trimble wants you to know they’ve heard you. Streamlining the collection, storage and use of on-farm data is the cornerstone component of changes to Trimble’s Connected Farm platform. Related: 2015 U.S. Farm... Read More
From Calgary, this week's ag news podcast includes updates on harvest, the beef market, a new tool aimed at increasing grain market transparency and the latest announcements from McDonald's and Glencore:
North America's largest chain restaurant has pledged to source all of the eggs for its nearly 16,000 restaurants in Canada and the U.S. from cage-free chicken farms. McDonald's announced today that it will completely transition to cage-free or "free-run" eggs within the next 10 years. “Our guests increasingly tell us they appreciate the efforts we... Read More
Nuffield Canada has announced its scholarship recipients for 2016 – Tony Balkwill, of Paris, Ontario, Clair Doan, of Norwich, Ontario, and Tim Smith, of Coronation, Alberta. Nuffield scholarships of $15,000 each are awarded to men and women who are judged to have the greatest potential to create value for them, their industries and their communities... Read More
They're being called "Canada's Team" again, pushing for the American League (AL) East title for the first time since 1993. After starting the season with some disappointing injuries, the Jays have pulled off one of the better records in Major League Baseball, to the delight of fans across Canada. It's hard to say what helped... Read More
Is there an ideal exchange rate for Canada's agriculture industry? That depends, of course, on what you're selling or what you're buying, and it's rare to win on both sides of that equation. What's more, farmers have no control over currency changes, so how can farmers best prepare for managing currency risk? That's the topic... Read More
On a freezing cold late afternoon in February, 14 women gathered in a meeting room at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs office in Woodstock to talk about big-picture issues facing women in the agricultural sector. Maternity leave issues, and their impact on a career, were the focus of this meeting. They... Read More