With the 2014-15 crop year coming to an end on July 31st, the Ag Transport Coalition has released its year-end report on rail performance in Western Canada. The data shows how despite not having a bumper crop on the prairies last fall, timeliness was still a challenge for railways servicing grain shippers. CN Rail and... Read More
Category: Western Canada
There’s an incredible amount of demand for quality forage both within Canada and in international markets. Even still, the forage and grassland industry hasn’t always been a top priority for research, extension or market development in Canada. A few years ago, the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association was created to help remedy that problem. Cedric... Read More
This week’s ag news podcast, including harvest progress, federal party policies on GMOS, the first StatsCan production estimates and a discussion about to what length farmland should be protected for farming: Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down — Should Farmland Status be Made Permanent? Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS
A guest column by Frayne Olson, Crops Economist at North Dakota State University A farmer recently asked a very simple but extremely relevant question at a market outlook meeting: "Will I ever see high grain prices again in my lifetime?" The farmer asking this question started his farming career in the early 1980s and remembers... Read More
Now that we're several weeks into the federal election campaign, it's clear the words "agriculture" and "farming" have been left out of the main messages repeated by most candidates. It's disappointing, but given the precedent set in politics over the last few decades, it's not at all surprising. Rather than preaching to the choir at... Read More
In an effort to raise awareness around feed testing, Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Central Testing Laboratories and Saskatchewan Peavey Mart has kicked off a province wide Hay Harvest Challenge for forage producers. “We essentially wanted to have kind of a fun and great way for forage producers to become more aware of the importance of... Read More
A new seeder design that first caught farmers' attention in Western Canada several years ago is moving from the prototype stage into production. Vancouver-based Clean Seed Capital Group says it has started manufacturing and assembling its CX-6 SMART Seeder at WS Steel Manufacturing in Steinbach, Manitoba. "This is a major step forward for Clean Seed,”... Read More
Manitoba's largest John Deere dealer is expanding its presence in the southwest corner of the province. Enns Brothers Ltd. and D.B. Murray announced a purchase agreement today that will see Enns Brothers Ltd. acquire 100 percent of the operating assets of D.B. Murray Ltd in Melita. “After 37 years for D.B. Murray Ltd. and over... Read More
According to Statistics Canada, over half a million acres of productive (class 1-3) farmland was "settled" between 2000 and 2011. This "settled area" on dependable agricultural land grew by 19 percent in Canada, with the largest increase happening in southern Ontario and Quebec. The loss of farmland isn't a new phenomenon (the last time people... Read More
Tile drainage in North America has traditionally been installed with a single-leg plow that rips a vertical groove in the soil as it lays the pipe in the ground. Depending on soil type and moisture conditions, the single-shank will disturb the soil and leave a rut or soft spot that can take years to settle.... Read More