Real Agriculture
by Kent Erickson and Lynn Jacobson In the past 150 years, wheat has played a significant role in the settlement of the Canadian prairies and the development of Western Canadian agriculture. Canada became the “bread basket of the world” because of the quality and quantity of wheat it supplied to countries around the globe. In [...]
As far as cover crops go, red clover is a no-brainer. That according to OMAFRA wheat specialist Peter Johnson. It’s a statement that seems to be backed up by a lot of facts. The first being its ability to provide ample amounts of nitrogen and organic matter to the soil. A good stand of red [...]
In this episode of the Corn School we talk with OMAFRA Corn Specialist Greg Stewart talks about the 4 year project undertaken to look at the benefits of starter fertilizer on corn. The study looked at all manner of formulations, applications and combinations. The major conclusion of the study showed the importance of potash levels [...]
The pulse industry across Canada is looking at an aggressive growth strategy in the coming years. The Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Association in particular have targeted a major expansion in acres by 2025 and they’re not the only province looking to grow. Alberta as well has some very aggressive thoughts on what may happens to pulse [...]
Considering some of the conditions during planting last year, the provincial average yield for soybeans was fairly impressive. If we can get 45 bushels last year, what is the real long term potential of soybean yields? What factors can we look at to bump those yields even higher. It has been reported that a grower [...]
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 questions put [...]
The Canadian pulse industry has room to grow, a lot of room. The Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Association has targeted growth of 7 million acres by the year 2025. As aggressive as that may seem, Executive Director of the organization Carl Potts says it is achievable for a number of reasons. One of the first of [...]
In order for the pulse industry to grow in Canada, a number of areas have to be looked at. One of those areas is market development. The world’s food needs are growing and changing. New markets are opening up as a middle class emerges in areas of the developing world. Those people have specific end-use [...]
We talked before about the spirit of invention and innovation that’s prevalent among Saskatchewan farmers. It seems as though they’re always tinkering with something in the shop or modifying something they bought. I don’t know if it’s long winters with nothing else to do or a lack of equipment or machinery that really suits their [...]
There are almost always times during harvest where you’re racing to beat some weather event. You’re either combining through what you hope is a short period of rain or in some cases, sadly, snow, and you’re forced to shut down and wait it out or shut down until next morning. You don’t want to get [...]
