We debut our new agronomy-themed Monday show on RealAg Radio this week. Bern Tobin endures a Christmas baking hangover to join co-host Kelvin Heppner, highlighting the newly-crowned Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016 and previewing plans and themes for the upcoming busy agronomic conference season. Topics and guests on today’s show include Sheri Strydhorst on variety-specific… Read More
Month: December 2016
Everyone that has been to an auction knows that the quality of the auctioneer can have a big impact on how hot the bids can be. The auctioneer’s role is to draw bids out of the crowd and get the money flowing for the item list. At Agribition, the winner of the auctioneers championship was… Read More
Update: The Canola Council of Canada has developed online calculators to determine your target plant density based on your individual field conditions, abilities and appetite for risk, as well as optimum seeding rate. You can find them at CanolaCalculator.ca. While the official industry recommendation for an optimal canola plant stand remains 7 to 10 plants per square… Read More
Yes you can have a very busy, multi-faceted farm and farm leadership career AND spend time on yourself and with your kids, but forget about trying to put it all “in balance” all the time. That’s according to Amy Cronin, president of Cronin Farms, chair of Ontario Pork, and mother of six. “You have to… Read More
First generation market garden farmers from New Brunswick and third generation dairy and field crop farmers from Quebec have been named Canada’s Outstanding Young Farmers for 2016. Dominic Drapeau & Celia Neault of Ste-Francoise-de-Lotbinière, QC and Andrew & Jennifer Lovell of Keswick Ridge, NB were selected at the national OYF event held in Niagara Falls,… Read More
A new mobile app from Newmarket, Ontario-based Dairy Quality Inc. is turning iPhones and iPods into microscopes for dairy farmers. The company’s new Dairy Health Check device includes milk sampling slides that plug directly into the phone. This, combined with somatic cells count (SCC) and ketosis testing apps that analyze the samples, turn the phone… Read More
You do not have to be in Montana very long to verify its tagline of “Big Sky Country.” That big sky sits overhead an agriculture industry that has many similarities to Alberta and Saskatchewan. With cattle and wheat being the main staples, Montana growers face many of the same challenges and opportunities. On the tradeshow… Read More
With wheat prices slumping, Montana and North Dakota growers are looking for alternatives. The Northern Pulse Growers held their meeting in Great Falls, Montana this week, in conjunction with the Montana Grain Growers annual get-together. The opportunity to diversify crop rotations and make money doing it excited the crowd. Growers in these states are seeing what’s… Read More
At its seasonal peak, Canadian farms need about 100,000 more workers than at seasonal lows, which represents a 30 per cent fluctuation. The average difference between the seasonal peak and low in employment for all other sectors is just 4 per cent, according to a new report from the Conference Board of Canada. The Conference… Read More
Grains pulled back from last week’s highs as profits got locked in to end November and the trade got really choppy. The news that OPEC would cut production by 1.2 million barrels for six months couldn’t help oilseeds recover from its highs made last week, but canola did track soy oil, as each were up 0.35%… Read More
Canola supplies could be tight this year, as the market awaits Statistics Canada’s new crop production estimates on Tuesday (Dec. 6.) The canola number, which is expected to fall somewhere between 18.2 and 19.7 million tonnes, will have to be interpreted with the timing of StatsCan’s survey in mind. The agency surveyed farmers from Oct. 21… Read More
Donald Trump doesn’t think highly of the document John Weekes spent several years of his life helping craft in the ’90s. “My wife teases me about it. ‘You hear that? The worst deal ever!’” jokes Weekes, in our conversation below. Having served as Canada’s chief negotiator for the North American Free Trade Agreement, he has a unique perspective… Read More
With the rise in acres of glyphosate-resistant soybeans and corn across the prairie regions of the U.S. and Canada there is a growing thirst for additional options in canola traits. At least this is what Cibus is banking on. Sulfonylurea-tolerant (SU) canola has been approved in the U.S. but the varieties are still waiting for… Read More
ADM has sold its stake in GrainCorp — the Australian parent company of Canada Malting and new Canadian joint venture GrainsConnect. The deal sees ADM sell its 19.9 percent ownership in Australia’s largest grain company to Swiss underwriters UBS for A$387 million (approximately C$380 million). “This transaction will allow us to further reduce our invested… Read More
Borrowing at 0% interest is about as good as it gets. When only 20% of producers are using available cash advance programs, like the one administered by the Canadian Canola Growers, you have to question why more farmers are not taking advantage of effective borrowing programs. According to David Derwin, of PI Financial, only 5 to 10%… Read More