Farmers are great at growing crops and raising livestock but I don't know many that really like to crunch the numbers. I feel that farmers are naturally entrepreneurial and tend to keep the farm financial plan in their head. For many farmers this works but it can result in some surprises from time to time.... Read More
Category: Western Canada
In the short term the financial picture for agriculture looks very good. Both farmers and livestock producers are very excited about the possibilities in 2011. With profit comes bullish behaviours of expansion and growth. In different areas of Western Canada there has been some reports of very steamy land rental rates based on the prices... Read More
By Due to the fact that my flight was delayed for three hours in the Calgary airport on my way to Denver for the NCBA 2011 annual convention I found the Rocky Mountain Lounge to get in an afternoon of work. Beside my work station was a giant plasma tv that had on the Oprah... Read More
There is a movement afoot in cereal growing world to push farmers to wider row spacing. Some researchers say that this is a great way to prevent a covered canopy which will naturally minimize crop leaf disease while others are more skeptical. One of the skeptics is David Bergen from GEN Manufacturing. GEN engineers openers... Read More
With the significant moisture that we are going to carry over into 2011 many farmers are very concerned about disease in their special crops. Specifically lentil disease were the concern at CropWeek 2011 in Saskatoon. Lentils can be a very high reward crop but managing in crop disease is definitely critical in order to get... Read More
Trying to maximize the yield of wheat, corn, canola and soybeans is obviously a key focus of growers. According to Phil Needham, Needham Ag Technologies uniformity is the key for farmers across North America. The idea of uniformity applies to seeding depth, seeding rates, plant emergence and residue management. According to Phil, uniformity is the... Read More
By Shaun Haney This week I was a speaker at FarmTech 2011 in Edmonton. During the second presentation someone asked from the floor about FarmVille. The question was in reference to whether I thought FarmVille was a great thing for agriculture because it shows that people are interested in farming? I've never personally played FarmVille... Read More
Creating a business plan and making sure you execute the plan is a very big challenge for farmers. In fact it is a great challenge for all business owners. Agriculture can even be tougher because of the underlying industry foundation of the "agricultural lifestyle." Added on top of this is the increased amount of un-controllables... Read More
Databases are very powerful tools that can make business decisions more clear, companies more effective and lead to high customer satisfaction. Larry Thomas is working on a very big project that will potentially connect all the dots in the value chain for beef producers. Once this system is live it has the potential to have... Read More
With the increased focus spraying fungicides and foliar application, nozzle technology is gaining increased attention. Whether its low pressure, high pressure, big droplet, small droplet, fan or cone, nozzle selection incredibly important to getting effective coverage and impact. At CropWeek 2011 in Saskatoon, Gary Moffat talked to me about nozzle technology and what kind of... Read More