Category: Western Canada

With rising commodity prices TV networks like CNBC are very interested in the financial investment plays in agriculture. Whether that is agricultural based stocks or investments in commodity ETF's Wall Street is very interested in what farmers are doing. Mike Haley is a farmer in Ohio involved in livestock and crop production. Mike recently appeared... Read More

Farmers across the globe continue to try and improve wheat production. Higher yields and environmental stewardship continue to evolve and be achieved. One of the best ways to learn new practices and raise your personal knowledge of agronomy is to look at other production practices around the globe. A deeper look into how fellow farmers... Read More

It seems that a cowboy is judged by a couple different metrics. He's judged by the way he wears his cowboy hat, the brand of chew he carries, and the kind of boots he wears. I really have none of those since I don't wear a hat, don't chew and never wear boots. How would... Read More

For many farmers conservations agriculture is like old hat. Many of us would never consider going back to recreational tillage. In many areas of the world conservation agriculture is in it's infancy. In fact many Canadian farmers are just beginning to scratch the surface of no-till and other conservation methods. With increased focus on environmental... Read More

With the volatility in the marketplace, producers need to be actively involved in managing risk. There is a multitude of tools available to producers. Some are simple and some are more complex. One of the more useful tools that is maybe a little more challenging for producers to wrap their heads around is options. Using... Read More

I have now been to the NCBA twice and both were very interesting experiences. In 2010, the cattle industry was begging for different fortunes while in 2011 the meeting was lifted with significant bullsihness for cattle prices. I can remember meeting with Gregg Doud, NCBA Chief Economist at the 2010 meeting where I asked him,... Read More

In agriculture we constantly talk about the value chain all the time. Do stakeholders all understand the value chain requirements from other stakeholders point of view. In my opinion not usually. I think most understand the value chain from their own perspective and not others. An additional comment would be that if you want to... Read More

Agriculture is always looking for ways to gain better exposure in the public eye. Marketing agriculture to consumers is the challenge of the whole industry with the reality of people getting farther from the farm. There are small steps and small wins all the time but sometimes people have a great idea that has the... Read More

Is there anything that the Canadian Wheat Board does or says that does not come with controversy? This week the Canadian Wheat Board announced that they are purchasing two lake freight ships at the cost of $65 Million dollars. Much of the criticism came immediately from the Western Barley Growers and the Grain Growers but... Read More

The amount of canola acres in Western Canada has steadily rose over the past decade. Apart of the growth of a crop not only depends on the primary use of the crop but also the by products. Catherine Folkersen is with SaskCanola and she believes that there is a much larger potential for canola meal.... Read More