The Ontario Cattlemen’s Association‘s annual general meeting is going on right now at Toronto, Ont., and yesterday the motion to re-name and re-brand the association was carried. As of next year, OCA will be known as the Beef Farmers of Ontario. This name change is many years in the making, but a similar motion was… Read More
Month: February 2013
There is a proverb that says “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Never is this more true than at the field level, nestled deep in the crop canopy, where beneficial insects are hard at work killing and eating crop pests. The tricky part, however, is that these beneficial insects can look a whole… Read More
In an effort to gain respect, agriculture has long fought the public image of farmers as salt-of the-earth types, more at home in the barn than the boardroom. But recent high-profile media events involving farmers have captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of people…and suggest maybe image isn’t a problem after all. First, long… Read More
Being your own boss, as farmers are, should mean you don’t ever have to write up a witty resume, right? Well, maybe not. In the quest to secure a land base from the ever-increasing number of non-farming landlords, farmers now and in the future are going to have to get creative in how they approach… Read More
Some people go to the NCBA to visit the immense trade show. Some go for the in-depth committee meetings. Some people even go just for the opening keynote speaker or the Cattlefax presentation. Apparently some people go south in the first week of February to get married before the NCBA convention. We would like to congratulate Anne… Read More
While Australia and Canada have much in common in regards to farming, the two countries’ growing seasons are also drastically different in many ways. One major similarity is farmers’ love of a good head-to-head equipment comparison, and what better to compare than seeder set-ups. That’s exactly what ABC News’ Landline program covered in a recent… Read More
No doubt many farmers, if asked, would tell you that it’s the lifestyle that drew them to farming. That group would also tell you that you have to work hard in order to keep that lifestyle. That means treating your farm like any other business which means long hours away from the family at times,… Read More
To say that they don’t make them like that anymore certainly applies to Eugene Whelan, a former federal ag minister who passed away last night at the age of 88 from complications from a stroke. His trademark green cowboy hat and bombastic personality made him one of the more memorable ministers of the early ’80s…. Read More
Lameness isn’t just a welfare issue, it’s a production issue too. A cow or bull in pain due to an abscess, foot rot or or injury may go off feed, or, if it’s a bull, may not be able to breed. There are several different types of lameness, some more common in feedlots, others an… Read More
I heard recently that only an estimated 20% of the fields across the Canadian Prairies are soil sampled. This is a surprisingly low number to me, as soil testing is the base on which many components of a farm plan for the year are built. What’s worse is that of the 20% of fields sampled,… Read More
Many farmers consider the farm to be their retirement nest egg. Of course the farm will play a significant role in funding retirement, but relying solely on farm assets can create challenges when it comes to farm succession. “You can run into trouble if you put all your eggs in one basket,” says farm succession… Read More
RealAgriculture.com attended the National Farm Machinery Show for the first time last week. We will definitely be attending again the future. We have a number of videos and interviews from the show in the coming weeks but until then here is all the photos that Shaun Haney took down in Louisville We think that you will… Read More
High land prices got you down? Does $3,000 an acre just seem to darn high? Well there’s no doubt that land prices have climbed significantly in recent years, a little history lesson teaches us that when combined with very low interest rates and high commodity prices land is not priced outlandishly. Alberta Agriculture’s Merle Good… Read More
It’s been nearly seven months since the Canadian Wheat Board became CWB — a pooling-focused wheat, barley and even canola marketing company operating in an open market. High cash prices since last fall had some expecting the pooling option wouldn’t be very popular, but as Ian White, CEO of CWB explains CWB isn’t just about… Read More
Soybeans are the hot topic of 2013. From Manitoba to Alberta, farmers are curious about growing the crop or are planning to expand acres in a big way this year. While the crop isn’t brand new for Manitoba, the projected 1 million acre mark for 2013 is not going to be reached by only seasoned… Read More