Better timing of manure application with in-crop needs was the motivation behind developing a new low disturbance, shallow injection manure application toolbar. The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives (OMAFRA), along with industry partners, developed the multi-coultered toolbar to try and find a made-in-Canada solution for in-crop manure applications for not just pastures... Read More
Category: Western Canada
Larger discs sure do look menacing. They also require far more horsepower to pull, but they wear out more slowly than smaller-diameter discs. But there are two very important considerations when choosing planter disc size. The first is trash management (guess which one cuts through straw better? You may be surprised) and the second is... Read More
The feel-good message about how healthy pulses are for us isn't new, but those who struggle to eat beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas in their whole form may be able to include more of them in their diet without changing the foods they already eat. That's the scope of a four-year pulse flour milling and... Read More
In the a story that seems to be getting stranger and more unpredictable with every passing day, XL Foods has decided to bring back 800 of the 2,000 laid-off workers. If you are saying to yourself, "huh?" Don't feel bad, I think everyone is. XL foods released the 2,000 workers just yesterday. In a report... Read More
With an uncertain timeline for the re-opening of the packing plant, XL Foods had made the decision to temporarily layoff 2000 of its union workers. Up until this point XL Foods has been honoring the contract of the workers during the shut down but that has stopped immediately. This layoff does not mean that the... Read More
Here's what I've been stewing about for the past few weeks. Why is it that organic farmers or producer organizations (and random celebrities, but that's another post) vilify conventional agriculture? Ever notice that conventional-management farmers don't do the same? Case in point: I'm sure by now you've heard or read about the completely de-bunked GMO/lab... Read More
Dormancy or hard seed counts in peas is not a new phenomenon, but, interestingly, pea germination samples last year and again this year have had higher than usual hard seed counts. Hard seed is seed that has an impermeable seed coat — the seed is impermeable to water or the exchange of gases that occur... Read More
It's no secret that Manitoba farmers have embraced soybeans — in just 10 years the crop has gone from an experiment to topping 800,000 acres in 2012. Once only suited to the rich soil and hot days of the Red River Valley, soybeans are now grown as far north as Arborg, east to Beausejour and... Read More
Do you remember the time before the world was saturated with information? Do you remember having to wait to get it? We have so many avenues to get our information by now that our biggest issue is where we get our information from. When we look at consumer attitudes toward agriculture, good or bad, we... Read More
Whatever your reason for planting a cover crop — for ground cover, for grazing or putting up feed or for N capture — there's a long list of options. Add in the choice of a second, third or more species and the combinations are endless. Planting two or more species may provide expanded options for... Read More