Is blackleg resistance breaking down in current canola varieties? The only way to really know is to first scout (swath-timing, harvest and post-harvest are all great times to scout) for the disease and confirm infection. Resistant varieties may still become infected, so seeing infected plants in your crop isn't necessarily cause for alarm, but if... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Farmers tend to get itchy in the spring and fall when it comes to tillage. Some joke about needless recreational tillage that just occupies a farm's boredom. Below is acute video addressing the serious disease called "restless tillage syndrome." Enjoy and happy harvest!!! If you cannot see the above embedded video, CLICK HERE
For rural and farming communities, an accident of any kind can be made worse simply because of distance. The extra time it takes for help to arrive or to transport to a fully equipped hospital can, quite literally, be the difference between life and death. The STARS Ambulance, a helicopter-based rescue team, is a key... Read More
I think every farmer is tired of reading about activists saying agriculture is making Canadians unhealthy, especially when the opposite is true. From what I read and hear, it’s sedentary lifestyles and poor dietary choices that are leading to alarming rates of diabetes and high blood pressure, not the crops and livestock that ultimately become... Read More
Supplementing cattle rations with mineral may seem expensive at first glance, but the cost of an incomplete nutritional package can show up as quickly as one breeding season where fertility rates plummet. The cost of open heifers or cows adds up far faster than the cost of mineral. When deciding on a mineral supplement, amount,... Read More
In a recent post on the Fast Company website, Comedian Nick Offerman was photographed chewing on a piece of raw meat. I like rare steak but I am not sure I would like this meal. I think the good thing is that even though it is meant to be funny in a series of strange... Read More
The canola crop is ripening at an incredible pace — should you wait and straight cut or try and swath ASAP? How fast is too fast to combine canola, in either scenario? These are questions that come up every year, but the trade-off between swathing and straight-cutting are especially important this year as the canola... Read More
Federated Co-operatives Limited, on behalf of the Co-operative Retailing System (CRS), has entered into an agreement to purchase 17 fertilizer, seed and agriculture chemical supply centres from Viterra Inc. Pending completion of customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close by the end of September, according to a company press release.... Read More
After a busy week of networking, mind mapping and proposing solutions to food insecurity at the Youth Ag Summit in Calgary, I am now preparing to leave for Australia to meet up with the Five Nations Beef Alliance. Who is that, now? Allow me to elaborate. Four of the world’s major beef producing nations –... Read More
Several analysts and farmers were caught off guard by the significant move to the upside made in soybean, corn and associated markets earlier this week. Corn markets moved higher, yes, but the big boom came in the form of some significant weather risk weighing on the U.S. soybean crop. As you'll hear in the SoundCloud... Read More