Category: Western Canada

As you dig out the drifts around your seeder and brush the snow off of it, there is a bit of a pre-seed inspection to be done. There is the standard replacement of broken parts that has to be done, but there are also the small bugs and glitches that hold up the process as... Read More

Over the past few years U.S. DDGs have worked their way more and more into Western Canadian livestock rations. The energy value is good, the starch content is less, helps to prevent acidosis in cattle, improved feed conversions and the quality and yield grades of carcasses remain unaffected when switching from traditional rations. Another big... Read More

Predicting the weather in these parts is hard, predicting it accurately is harder, but delivering that forecast is sometimes the hardest part of all. Nobody likes to be the bearer of bad news. Try being a meteorologist delivering the forecast for "spring" on the prairies. Drew Lerner runs World Weather Incorporated, a weather information service... Read More

AAAAHHH, COME ON! This is the standard "wake up and look out the window" response these days. "Wet" is the descriptive word of choice around most of the western prairies these days. It's been coming in all forms lately too, rain, snow, sleet, hail, floodwater, you name it. The closer we come to that critical... Read More

For a lot of farmers marketing wheat can be a lot like playing "Let's Make a Deal". You pick what's behind door number one and hope it's better than what's behind doors two and three. It's guesswork and a lot of luck. For other farmers, it feels like you're preparing to write a thesis, with... Read More

The loonie has been on a real run lately, or the U.S. dollar has been in a real slump depending on how you look at it. While the rise of our dollar may have positive implications for Canadian consumers shopping in the U.S., the impact of a strong loonie on Canadian exporters is another story.... Read More

The flax industry in Canada is still in recovery trying to manage the triffid flax discovery of 2009. Triffid, a genetically modified form of flax, was ordered destroyed over 10 years ago over concerns that the European Union would reject it. Those fears over rejection were enough reason for farmers, considering that the EU buys... Read More

In the last few years, lentil acres in Canada were on the rise. Farmers across the country planted just over 2.5 million acres of the crop last year. That being said, the expectation this year is that lentil acres will be down about 25% according to some analysts. Apparently, as good as the price for... Read More

When the media talks about profitability in the cattle business most times we talk about ranchers and feedyard owners. The other part of the beef value chain that cannot be forgotten is the cattle packer. Packers have not had a real great run as of late which has meant four day kill weeks. As we... Read More

It may be a bit of an understatement to say that farmers across the west are eager to get in the field and get seeding. In the south end of Alberta, we've been teased with one day of sun, one day of rain/snow/sleet/cold. Other parts of the west need to dry up, while Peace River... Read More