After three decades of fairly stagnant yields in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, a renewed focus on agronomic practices with flax could unlock higher yields, says a former flax breeder who now works as a research consultant for the Flax Council of Canada. “I think that flax has been undermanaged to some degree, even with fertility,” says... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Update — 4pm EDT April 7th: The CFIA placed another six neighbouring farms under quarantine on Tuesday for precautionary measures (these farms had not reported sudden mortalities or other signs of avian influenza.) The infected barn housed 12,000 turkeys, of which 7,500 have died. The CFIA says the remaining birds will be euthanized on Wednesday.... Read More
Rotation is generally a critical part of mitigating any disease resistance problem. When it comes to preventing the breakdown of resistance in blackleg-resistant canola varieties, the first line of defence is an extended crop rotation with non-host crops. Beyond that, growers can also rotate the canola varieties they're growing, suggests Anastasia Kubinec, oilseed specialist with... Read More
Chris Koch is one of those people who longboards into your life and tells you absolutely anything is possible. He was one of the many speakers featured at this year’s Alberta Beef Industry Conference in Red Deer, where he took the audience through a roller coaster of emotions. Born without arms and legs, Koch has... Read More
What a week! A big USDA report; end of the month; end of the quarter; shortened trading week because of the Easter holiday long weekend...if you wanted to see how markets can trade high and low, and all in the same day, this was the week. Corn and oats got the worst of it, both... Read More
The head of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is accusing the union that represents food inspectors of "unnecessarily undermining Canadians' confidence in their food safety system." The Agriculture Union issued a news release this week saying cost-cutting within the CFIA is creating an inspector shortage that is putting Canadians' health at risk. As an example,... Read More
We’ve all seen it. The gentle rancher who turns Hyde in the face of cattle handling. Sticks or prods come out, and everyone prepares for the yelling that will follow. But what if that rancher could just be his or her gentle self even when working cattle? This past winter, I’ve had the pleasure of... Read More
From record cattle prices to winter wheat conditions to cash advance program changes — here’s the latest “This Week on Real Ag” podcast hosted by Kelvin Heppner: The TWORA podcast is recorded every Thursday. You can find past episodes here. Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS
The room was abuzz with the energy of high cattle prices, an informative day of sessions, and the opportunity to dress up for a night of entertainment. There was a white tablecloth, food heaped onto my plate, the offer of an array of drinks a short stroll away, and a group of quasi-strangers set to... Read More
Nobody wants to be stuck with a crop that suddenly has no market, especially when it’s due to avoidable circumstances. While Canada’s regulatory process and international trade policies are designed to prevent situations where residues from pesticides and other tools used to grow crops become trade obstacles, each farmer must still carry out their own... Read More