From the outside it looks like another piece of John Deere machinery — a swather (or windrower, if you're so inclined) with the trademark green paint and jumping deer. But underneath all that green and yellow paint is a Canadian success story. What you're looking at is actually a product of Winnipeg-based MacDon Industries, and... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Six years ago, Albert Wagner needed 100,000 bushels-worth of added storage. The traditional bin route would have cost him about $2.45/bu over 10 years (including a residual value for the bins), but he also had one of two fertilizer bins nearing the end of its useful life. That got him thinking about bagging grain, which... Read More
Editor's note: This is Owen Roberts' first Real Talk, Real Action column. Each week, Owen will offer his insight into how farmers and the agricultural industry can participate in the rural- and ag-related discussions going on around them. Contact Owen at owen@uoguelph.ca or on Twitter at @TheUrbanCowboy. Food Freedom Day in Canada arrives next week... Read More
There is a new craze in Saskatchewan and it is soybeans. I have been travelling all week with the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers and Kevin Elmy of Friendly Acre Seed Farms (Saltcoats, SK) has been wowing the crowd with indepth soybean agronomic information. Saskatchewan farmers want to grow soybeans and that has been very clear with... Read More
Once again Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz took to the stage at the FarmTech conference to talk to a packed house about the state of agriculture in Canada. This year saw the Minister announce details on two federal Growing Forward 2 programs as well as address a number of other topics including the lay of... Read More
There is nothing that draws a crowd quite like battleship-sized machinery. While most people come to gawk at the spectacle with no real practical use for it, keep in mind, manufacturer's don't make these things for their own entertainment. The Bourgault 7950 Air Seeder is a gargantuan machine, but for the producer with a lot... Read More
On Twitter yesterday Rick Taillieu, Alberta Canola, was having some fun at my expense (which at times is not really difficult). When you post a YouTube video, it grabs a screen shot to display at the front of the video before you press play. Some of the screen grabs are less than ideal in terms... Read More
Today is potentially a very big day for Western Canadian farmers and the petroleum industry. Ceres Global Ag Corp will be investing heavily in new rail infrastructure to connect Canadian farmers directly to the Texas Gulf and Mexico. A Canadian grain expert (who requested to be kept confidential) quickly told RealAgriculture.com that, "this would of... Read More
Agri-Trend's latest business offering is the Agri-Data Solution, a web-based application that stores all the farm data you may need. Once inputted, the Agri-Data interface can be accessed by several members of the farm team from any computer, tablet or smartphone by a user name and password. Shaun Haney caught up with Kevin Pattison of... Read More
Statistics Canada released its estimates for 2012 year-end crop stocks today. As of December 31, total stocks of most principal field crops were down compared with the same date in 2011. Corn is the big exception — record yields in 2012 have boosted on-farm stocks. Canola stocks are estimated at 7.4 million tonnes, a 23.6%... Read More