Grains had a big week in the markets with everything ending in the green thanks to wet weather in the U.S. Midwest, and drier weather in Western Canada and Europe. November canola on the Winnipeg exchange nearly touched $12/bu, winter corn and soybean contracts pushed above $4/bu and $10/bu (respectively) in Chicago, and we’re starting... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Not that I’m getting old (!), but back in the 1980s I was long into adulthood when the craft beer movement started, at least as far as I see it now. That’s when the spirit of the West led an entrepreneur outside of Calgary to create Big Rock beer, which remains one of my favourites.... Read More
Looking to add a bigger tractor to their farm and save some money along the way, Greg and Glenn Honey of Bracken, Saskatchewan spent the winter of 1978-79 building a giant yellow and black workhorse that has come to symbolize farmer ingenuity and sheer power. The original 500 horsepower, 2-wheel-drive Honey Bee tractor returned to... Read More
The diversity of North American agriculture is again on display in this week’s news podcast. From the farmer’s role in fighting antibiotic resistance to how Canadian dairy farmers could be affected by a potential Trans-Pacific Partnership to the trends at AgTech Week down in San Francisco, here’s a summary of what happened “This Week on... Read More
Soy Canada will receive just over $350,000 in federal funding to allow the organiztion to capitalize on "new and emerging international markets and demand for Canadian soybean products." Canada is currently the world’s 5th largest exporter of soybeans, exporting to over 55 countries in 2014. Canadian soybean production has increased nearly 125% in the last... Read More
Plans to build a pasta processing plant in Regina are still alive, according to the head of Saskatchewan-based AGT Food and Ingredients (formerly Alliance Grain Traders.) The company’s purchase of West Central Road & Rail for $22 million this spring moves AGT closer to building the facility first announced back in 2011, said Murad Al-Katib... Read More
Elizabeth Homerosky, doctor of veterinary medicine and Simpson Ranch Fellow at the University of Calgary, is looking at developing a scoring system that might enable producers to predict a calf’s ability to consume colostrum on its own, in a timely manner. So far, the data seems to point in a rather unsurprising direction: suckling reflex.... Read More
If conditions are conducive to disease development, pulling the trigger on a fungicide application is easy. But if it’s dry, or the crop isn’t looking like a bin-buster, how do you make sure that fungicide application is really worth it? The first step, as explained by Glen Forster, with BASF, in the video below, is... Read More
Crosby Devitt will join the Canadian Seed Trade Association as its new executive director, effective July 27, 2015. Devitt is currently vice president, strategic development for the Grain Farmers of Ontario, where he leads and manages the communications, research and market development departments of the organization. The CSTA says that Devitt was also instrumental in... Read More