The transition from the closed to open wheat and barley market has gone very smoothly, of that most will agree. Sales have gone through, prices have been strong and the hiccups have been relatively minor. Earlier this week, several market analysts, grain buyers and farmers converged on downtown Winnipeg for Wild Oats Grainworld, a conference... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Ah, early spring — the days are getting longer, the snow is starting to melt ever so slightly, and farmers are dusting off the machinery in hopes of an early seeding season. While many are fine-tuning their crop rotations and acreage counts, the savvy farmer is also pouring over seed test results and using the... Read More
It's one thing to know that you should be scouting for blackleg, sclerotinia, sulphur deficiency and cutworms, for example. It's another thing entirely to actually scout every field for every pest at the optimal timing during the hectic growing season. What if there was a way to practice insect, disease and nutrient deficiency identification when... Read More
Whenever someone mentions risk management in grain marketing, someone also mentions futures, options, puts, calls and, eventually, most people's eyes glaze over. Anyone who has done a marketing course has also run through a hedging example or five in their education only to find that these tidy examples involving one crop rarely mirror real life.... Read More
Michele Payn-Knoper, agvocate, farmer and author, recently launched a book aimed at connecting consumers and farmers, in hopes of bringing some civility to the farming and food conversations happening today. The book is called "No More Food Fights," and is written in two halves, with a bridging chapter to connect the two. One half of... Read More
Is there such thing as a perfect farm? If so, what does it look like? Is it a fixed size? Is it highly specialized, or incredibly diverse? The perfect farm is a concept that Gary Martens, instructor with the department of plant science at the University of Manitoba, brought up to me some time ago... Read More
February is a busy month for cattle conventions. The American industry hosted the National Cattlemans Beef Association convention and the Alberta cattle industry hosted the Alberta Beef Industry Conference. Anne Wasko (Dunford) represented RealAgriculture at both events this year. See More Beef Market Update Episodes In this episode of the Beef Market Update, Shaun Haney... Read More
Take it for what it's worth (a relatively arbitrary list from The Daily Meal), but a recent who's who of food puts farmers at the bottom of the list when it comes to who influences how and what we eat. The Daily Meal launched its "50 Most Powerful People in Food" list recently, ranking individuals... Read More
Here at RealAgriculture, we love us some social media. Because of that we often get asked: "Who should I follow on Twitter?" We gave it a bit of thought, and while we'd love to suggest you follow all 6,000 of our followers, we decided to put together a short list of people and organizations to... Read More
Demands and expectations are very high on seeders and planters. Seed must be delivered quickly and gently, then metered accurately and placed precisely in the furrow, regardless of conditions. The planter then has to close up the furrow, pack it down and carry on, all the while adjusting for terrain and trash at over five... Read More