Consumers want food that’s as cheap as possible. True, they want safe food, too, and all those other features such as wholesome, nutritious and environmentally sound food. But mainly, they want food cheap. The huge increase in grocery items at big box stores and discount outlets bears that out. Exceptions exist, particularly with the growing... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Every conference season, presentation after presentation reminds farmers of the cost of too-short crop rotations. Increased disease pressure, insect infestations and nutrient depletion of soil all weigh on yields in tight rotations. Agronomic decisions like these commonly play in to the decision on what to seed next on each field, but 2014 is shaping up... Read More
While the fundamentals seem to hint at conditions being right for the Canadian cow herd to begin an expansion phase, it’s not happening. Cull rates of about 10% would signal ranchers building their herds; 2013 numbers will end up somewhere about 15%, a number more synonymous with liquidation than expansion. According to Brian Perillat, senior... Read More
Farmers can look forward to a new LEMKEN compact-disc for the 2014 growing season, as the company rolls out the Rubin 12 compact-disc harrow for primary tillage applications. Designed to work at depths of 5 to 8 inches, the Rubin 12 delivers intensive, uniform mixing and crumbling in one pass – even in very heavy... Read More
ATB is celebrating its 75th anniversary and as a part of that they are sharing some very special memorable belt buckles. The commemorative limited edition buckles were handcrafted by Alberta native Troy Fisher. Each farmer or rancher was nominated by their regional relationship manager based on their contribution to the local community and agriculture; size,... Read More
With a nod to tradition, Cereals Canada has announced Winnipeg, Manitoba, as the chosen city to house the headquarters of the organization. "A great deal of thought and consideration went into making this decision," says Greg Porozni, Cereals Canada chair, in a press release. "Through this process it became clear to us that Winnipeg will... Read More
Research out of the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI) suggests that radio frequency identification (RFID) tags inserted into an animal's ear cold not only require more strength to install, they are also much weaker than those installed at room temperature. These findings will no doubt be a warm message on a cold day to producers... Read More
Though we have yet to see prairie flax acres meet the pre-2009/pre-CDC Triffid-incident era, the purple flowers are making a steady return to our landscape. With this return comes an increasing interest in the plants agronomics. Typically seen as a fairly low input crop, flax certainly still requires nutrition and Chris Holzapfel, research manager at... Read More
All of us have attended a seminar in the past that provides us with the key criteria to make your farm successful. In many cases these are quite broad and not very personalized. For some fun, lets narrow it down and focus on one question that allows only one solution. I present you with a... Read More
Competition to get you to a grocery store is higher than ever before. With a fierce marketplace and incredibly diverse set of consumer demands, grocers are working hard to get you to their store and make you a loyal customer. Retailers' most common weapon in the battle for loyalty seems to be providing murky information... Read More