Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that talk of changes to (elimination of?) supply management in Canada has recently heated up. Of particular note, delegates, politicians and the like are gathering in Hawaii right now to further hammer out details regarding a giant, international trade deal — the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)…. Read More
Month: July 2015
Canola fields with spotty emergence and heat-blasted pods have farmers in parts of the prairies grappling with the thought that their crops might not be worth combining. But that doesn’t mean it’s time to till it under. “There are some other uses for canola that we normally wouldn’t consider,” says Keith Gabert, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council… Read More
“Lean” principles originally developed to increase efficiency and reduce waste in the automobile manufacturing sector are being applied in many other business and process-related sectors, including primary agriculture. Toyota is often credited as the first company to develop and intentionally implement Lean principles in their assembly lines decades ago. Last year, the Agri-Food Management Institute, working… Read More
Grain and oilseed futures have dropped sharply over the last week, falling well off the summer highs set earlier in July. Weather premiums are shrinking as growing conditions have improved, or at least stabilized, across much of Canada and the U.S. corn belt over the last three weeks, explains Dave Reimann, senior market analyst with Cargill,… Read More
If you’ve wished for custom blended herbicide types or specific volumes of a tank-mix, DuPont’s latest PrecisionPac offering may be of interest. DuPont Crop Protection recently rolled out its PrecisionPac 3.0 herbicide blending concept, a specially-designed delivery system that dispenses customized herbicide blends. “Most crop protection products are sold in packaged 40-acre increments, leaving leftover… Read More
It’s a great problem to have, but gains of an average four to five bushels per acre per year is possible with today’s corn crop if modern genetics are managed properly. Of course, “managed properly” is too general — if Ontario’s average corn yield per acre is set to surpass the 200 bushel mark in… Read More
Weeds cause grief in many ways — stealing yield, water and nutrients, or complicating harvest by staying green or staining the crop. But some weed species are much nastier than others (who hasn’t been stung by stinging nettle?), and a few problem species are spreading in places like Ontario, B.C and Manitoba. Far worse than… Read More
I always get a kick out of stories about the aging farm population, stories that begin something like “Canadian farmers are getting older…” It makes you wonder if, in some other occupations, people are actually getting younger. Of course they’re not. It’s all about average age. And further, it’s not a measure of quality, which… Read More
Quebec farmers rallied outside the constituency office of federal Minister of State Maxime Bernier in Sainte-Marie on Friday. They demanded the federal government maintain the status quo for supply management in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The rally was organized by Quebec farm group Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA). Speaking on the phone after the event, the president of… Read More
The grain markets continued to push lower this week as favourable weather and temperatures and a strong U.S. dollar did not help any bullish players. Wheat has had nine straight sessions of going lower, dropping over 7.5 per cent in last week, while corn had its worst week in the past year, down almost seven… Read More
Wind and rain have taken a toll on some of the best-looking cereal crop acres in Western Canada and the northern U.S. over the last few weeks. Large sections of wheat, barley and oat fields have been knocked flat (some several times) in parts of southern Manitoba and North Dakota. Yield losses from lodging can range… Read More
Boron’s complete role in plant health is not entirely understood, but the nutrient does play a key role in cell elongation, hormone response and membrane function. Boron is a micronutrient necessary for optimal yield and growth, but needed in only very small quantities. In Western Canada, trials surrounding boron have shown inconsistencies in yield response,… Read More
Cargill held a grand opening this week for the company’s canola refinery at Clavet, Saskatchewan. The facility is designed to refine approximately 450 thousand metric tonnes (1 billion pounds) of canola oil annually, making it Cargill’s largest refinery in North America. It sits adjacent to Cargill’s canola crush facility at Clavet, which after expanding in… Read More
Wheat harvest has started in southern Ontario and is just around the corner in parts of Western Canada. The latest on improving grain transportation, glyphosate-resistance, tax deferrals and more — here’s this week’s audio ag news update: Get the latest news delivered to your in-box — sign-up for RealAg’s (free!) newsletters here. Subscribe: iTunes |… Read More
Wheat harvest is underway in southern parts of Ontario, with yields ranging anywhere from an ugly-and-diseased 40 bushels an acre to 110 bushels in areas south of London, as Real Agriculture agronomist Peter Johnson shares leading off his update this week. What’s there to be learned from all the fusarium in wheat this year? It’s that… Read More