On Tuesday, April 9th, a widespread day of protest will be held against – of all things troubling our country – GM alfalfa. Activists will be gathering at about 20 locales, including 12 in Ontario, to show their opposition to its pending arrival. The Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, a relatively benign group with agricultural ties... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Want to try something new to burndown weeds before you plant cereals? Nufarm just registered GlyKamba herbicide, a premix of glyphosate and dicamba (hence the clever name). GlyKamba can be used in summerfallow or before planting wheat, barley, oats, or field corn. There is a pretty impressive list of weeds on the label, but if... Read More
The new marketing environment around wheat in Western Canada offers producers a much greater level of involvement than they've ever had when it comes to managing price risk. Should producers choose to step out of the contract environment provided by their local grain companies and buyers and go directly to the futures and options market... Read More
What does Canada's participation in the Trans Pacific Partnership really mean to supply management? Will Canada give up some or all of the supply management pillars in the face of trade opportunities for other agricultural products? While there are no clear cut answers as of yet, TPP negotiations are most certainly a topic of interest... Read More
What, indeed. If you just read the title and aren't sure, the short answer is nothing. The longer answer, however, is that tram lines may make scouting for insects easier and more thorough, and thus beneficial. Not convinced? Read on. Some insects are predictably found on the edge of the field — like flea beetles,... Read More
Dr. Robert T. Fraley is the executive vice president and chief technology officer of Monsanto. He is also considered by many to be one of the fathers of modern agricultural biotechnology. Dr. Fraley's farm background and his passion for research combined early in his career and moved the Monsanto Company from an industrial chemical company... Read More
Wireworms have been on the rise in many areas of the prairies, due in part to the banning effective insecticides, such as Lindane, years ago. Unlike several other pests, wireworms have a very long lifecycle —spending three to five years as seed-eating worms. There are about 30 species of the pest that are of economic... Read More
How high can wheat yields go? Is 150 bushels an acre achievable, and, if so, how do we get there? That's the question we asked several farmers at this year's FarmTech conference. The answers are evenly split between yes, no and yes, but only if fill-in-the-blank happens. It would seem it's that fill-in-the-blank part that... Read More
If you cannot see the above embedded audio player, CLICK HERE According to Chuck Penner, LeftField Commodity Research, everyone was waiting for the USDA planting intention report with baited breathe but what shocked (or maybe not) the market was the stocks report. Farmers holding onto old crop crop corn and wheat without unhedged are feeling... Read More
A near-record number of intended corn acres estimated today by the USDA's planting intentions report has pressured corn markets limit-down for the day. Hear what Chuck Penner Thinks About the USDA Stocks Report Today The report pegs estimated acres at 97.3 million acres, a total eclipsed only by a mid-1930s planting. The USDA National Agricultural... Read More