May 17, 2012

Omega 9 Oil Use On The Rise In North America

CanolaField

“Healthy alternative” is one of the most popular descriptive phrases circulating in North America today. Consumers are becoming more and more health conscious as the effects of years of poor eating habits are showing themselves all over the health care system. The North American food industry has had to make some big changes over the [...]

Meeting the Global Demand for Wheat

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The global demand for wheat is expected to double over the next forty years – and Canada can play an important role in meeting that demand. In addition to its growing prominence on the world stage, what makes wheat truly exciting is its significant potential for technology transformation – and Canadian agriculture has the opportunity [...]

Innovation Finds a Home in Alberta – Dr. Stan Blade

Where are we headed in agriculture? What does the future hold for biotechnology and food production? Where will the next big innovations in these areas come from? Dr Stan Blade hopes those innovations will come from in Alberta. Dr. Blade is the CEO of Alberta Innovates – Bio Solutions. They help companies working on research [...]

Looking For The Triple Win In Agriculture – Dr Pam Berry, E.C.I.

Can agriculture help to mitigate the effects of climate change while protecting biodiversity and maintaining profitability? That is what Dr Pam Berry refers to as the triple win scenario. Dr Berry is with the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University in England. She realizes that these opportunities are rare, but she also notes that it [...]

12th International Symposium on Pre-Harvest Sprouting – Holly Gelech, Biovision Seed Labs

By Holly Gelech, Biovision Seed Labs The 12th International Symposium on Pre-Harvest Sprouting in Cereals was hosted the week of July 24th in Red Deer, Alberta and was attended by 60 participants from all regions of the globe. The 35 speakers, who originated from Australia, China, Japan, United Kingdom, Africa, Canada and many others countries, [...]

Wheat School: Why are Test Weights Down in Ontario? – Peter Johnson, OMAFRA

  Test weights on wheat are down below average in parts of Ontario. Compared to this time last year, yields by test weight alone are down by as much as 10% in areas. There are a couple of reasons behind this. The first involves under-filled  kernels from plants surrounding dead zones in the field being [...]

Wheat School: Biotech Companies Continue to Expand Research into Wheat Breeding – Norm Dreger, Syngenta

Wheat is an important crop globally. From a food production standpoint, with regards to rotation on the farm and from an economic standpoint, wheat is “key” crop worldwide. The biotech industry has taken notice of this, and a great deal of new interest has been invested into wheat. Companies like Syngenta have expanded their efforts [...]

Why Does it Take So Long For New Malt Varieties to be Accepted? – Erin Armstrong, Canterra Seeds

Anyone who grows malt barley knows the number of specifications it has to meet in order to be acceptable. There are some years where those specifications can prove very frustrating to growers. When that barley doesn’t meet specifications, one of the areas that gets the blame is variety, the grain company or the CWB. After [...]

Wheat School: A Demonstration of Successful Fusarium Tolerance Breeding in Wheat – Peter Johnson, OMAFRA

This episode of the Wheat School can be summarized as a bit of a fusarium clinic. Peter Johnson, Cereal Specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs gives us a first hand look at the difference in resistance between older wheat varieties and some of the newer generations. Here we get confirmation [...]

My Trip to InfoAg a Precision Ag Conference in Springfield, Illinois

  By Ken Coles, FarmingSmarter.com In July I attended the Precision Ag Conference in Springfield, Illinois. I though in my first blog post I would cover my thoughts and observations at the conference. Day 1 Last week Brent Nicol and I attended the infoag, precision ag conference in Springfield, Illinois. (www.infoag.org). Not being a seasoned [...]