This years NCBA conference saw a more positive outlook from producers and industry members than there has been for a while. That outlook comes with some qualifiers as well as some questions that have to be answered as we look ahead to the rest of 2012. I spoke to Duane Lenz of CattleFax about the... Read More
Category: Western Canada
When it comes to succession planning, one of the most difficult things to do may be just getting the conversation started. No other topic can get defences up, arouse suspicions or cause divisions like the topic of succession if it's not handled correctly. Having a pure business discussion with your parents or kids easily crosses... Read More
If you're in the cattle feeding business, you know how tight margins are. With feed costs continuing to be expensive and feeder prices looking toward potential record highs this year, the importance of improving feed efficiency becomes magnified. Watching cattle struggle through wet pens to get to that feed in the spring can be hard... Read More
If you only read news headlines, you’d probably be left with the impression that most of 2011 was a rough spell for Canadian agriculture. But if you dug just a bit deeper, you’d see there’s plenty of room for optimism in our sector. From the 30,000-foot level, the statistics suggest a stagnating industry. Our previously... Read More
Assessing risk is a crucial part of any producer's pest control strategy. If you don't know what to look for or how to look for it, you are setting yourself up for some potentially costly problems. That risk assessment starts with a good knowledge of the previous year including hotspots for activity, and overall movement... Read More
By all standards it appears that FarmTech 2012 was an incredible success. The event, which ran from January 24th to the 26th was sold out, with producers and industry members gathering to hear from an wide array of speakers who ran the gamut from industry expert to army general to comedian. Another reason this years... Read More
If a person were to describe the overall mood of this year's NCBA Conference, it would be descibed as price bullish and margin bearish. As we have mentioned before, it's a cautious optimism for feeders and packers, which comes with a recognition of the volatility that producers have gone through and are also facing in... Read More
Every once in a while there's something you see at a trade show that stops you in your tracks. In today's world, that's quite a feat considering the sheer volume of bells and whistles aimed at you to get your attention. This year, Syngenta had on display their "virtual agronomist" patterned after Robert Klewchuk, Syngenta's... Read More
Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was in attendance at FarmTech in Edmonton. He spoke to the 1600 attendees about the huge aoportunities in Canadian agriculture. Of course of one the topics was the upcoming changes to the marketing sytsem for wheat and barley coming August 1, 2012 in Western Canada. There were a number of... Read More
I've mentioned before that one of the great things about trade shows is the fact that most of the equipment is the latest and greatest. It's cool to see all of the newest innovations and improvements companies have made to their machinery and how those improvements will benefit producers. This year at Crop Production Week... Read More