On November 26 and 27 Canfax will be hosting its second annual Canfax Market Forum at the Deerfoot Inn and Casino in Calgary Alberta. I had a chance to talk to Canfax Market Analyst Brian Perillat about the conference and specifically about some of the headlining speakers. Whether its COOL, currency and cattle markets or... Read More
Category: Western Canada
It's time to get down, get your hands dirty and take stock of, well, what you feed your stock. As discussed in the last Beef Research School, rangelands serve several purposes beyond just growing grass, and their health is a measure of five key components — species mix, nutrient cycling, site stability, water management and…Read More
Sometimes, as a writer, when you get weary of coming up with new ideas, you simply take an older, successful idea and recycle it. Two examples of this: tabloids running a "Celebrity Pregnancy Shocker" piece and W5 running a "factory farming animal abuse" story filmed entirely by undercover animal activists. And so this last week,... Read More
If you happen to meet Pat Beaujot these days, you'll likely get the sense that he's a pretty happy guy. Not only has the founder of Saskatchewan-based Seed Hawk recently sold his company to Swedish Vaderstad, he also stays on in the product development role. Imagine, for a moment, that you get to choose the... Read More
Whether it's a brand new crop type or just a new-to-your-farm variety, setting up a basic head to head comparison or small-scale trial can help minimize the risk of going all-in. On-farm trials or variety comparisons are especially helpful when trying to choose a corn variety, as hybrid production can vary so widely between growing…Read More
Sometimes you just need to unwind after a long growing season. When that fun can be tied to supporting a great cause you have the potential for a great event that really can make a difference in people's lives. The southern Alberta canola seed industry is banding together to organize this kind of great event... Read More
Cigi (more formally the Canadian International Grains Institute) is on the receiving end of a Canadian government commitment to the tune of $6.4 million to establish a Moroccan National Durum Technical Training Centre (DTTC) in Casablanca. According to a Cigi press release, funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) over the... Read More
Did you know seeding corn following canola can result in a competitive disadvantage to the corn (with limited herbicide options) AND phosphate availability issues? Or, that even northern parts of the Prairie Provinces are successfully growing grain corn? Last week, I attended a corn harvest demonstration in North Battleford, where I was able to talk…Read More
"If you can't measure it, you can't manage it." While this business principle seems to apply more to hard numbers and bushels per acre, it applies just as perfectly to rangeland production. Beyond just grass tonnage or pounds of growth per acre, there are several other outputs of rangeland production that should be assessed, measured…Read More
This blog post is one I was hoping not to have to write. In Canada, there was recently an “investigative report” on the commercial egg industry. It developed after an animal activist group took undercover footage and passed an edited video to a television newsmagazine. The resulting 30 minute show was a black eye to... Read More