Grain markets this week ended mostly in the red after a stronger performance at the beginning of the week. Traders took profits on the heels of some double-digit moves on the futures boards for most grain and oilseeds on Tuesday. Some geopolitical risk helped fuel the rally, but a “risk on” attitude hit the market… Read More
Year: 2018
When asked about people of different political stripes, we often expect politicians to respond with negativity. But Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper took the high road at FarmTech this week, saying, if given the chance, he would ask Prime Minister Justin Trudeau how it’s going — how he’s handling the pressure, how his family is… Read More
Having shared office space and administrative staff since 2013, the Alberta Wheat Commission and Alberta Barley Commission are moving ahead under shared management. “This is a next logical step in our relationship,” explains Tom Steve, general manager of Alberta Wheat, and now, Alberta Barley. The move to shared management, which was announced at FarmTech in… Read More
Lyle Stewart will continue to represent Saskatchewan agriculture in new Premier Scott Moe’s provincial cabinet. After winning the Sask Party leadership contest last weekend, Moe was formally sworn in as Premier of Saskatchewan on Friday, after which he announced the appointment of his first cabinet. Stewart, who has served as ag minister in Saskatchewan since… Read More
It’s going to be harder to find current information on Canadian canola and soybean processor demand going forward. In the “COPA weekly report of member crushings” published on Friday, the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association says it is immediately discontinuing the report. The weekly update shared information on the total tonnes of canola and soybeans crushed by COPA… Read More
Perhaps one of the most frustrating aspects of plowing land is the bumpy ride around the headlands that follows. That’s where Kuhn’s Vari-Master Smart Plow comes in. The Smart plow offers sectional control through an electro-hydraulic system which automatically raises and lowers individual bodies based on GPS positioning data, creating a straight furrow edge where… Read More
It’s our third and final day at FarmTech. Today, on the show: Alberta farmer Darcy Hilgartner joins host Shaun Haney to discuss his operation, his involvement in ag politics, and this year’s crop choices; Is there an adequate amount of research investment going into herbicide resistance? Pierre Petell, CropLife Canada, joins the show to talk… Read More
The world of agribusiness mergers and acquisitions has been very busy in the last 24 months, especially in the seed and crop protection industry, with three large deals closing in a relatively short time period. In any deal, there are opportunities for third party companies to acquire assets that must be shed due to competition… Read More
If you’ve been attending agricultural and food conferences over the last decade you’ve likely heard countless references to “feed the 9 billion” or to double production by 2050 to meet the appetite of a growing global population. Is it time we revisited this oft-cited food prediction? Penn State University’s Mitch Hunter thinks so. Hunter and… Read More
Wednesday was a big day for economic news in both Canada and also for our friends south of the border, in the United States. Here at home, the market is digesting the most recent GDP data for November, while the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee made the decision to hold interest rates in the country…. Read More
Since May 2015, when Alberta elected Rachel Notley and the NDP as its government, the province’s farmers and ranchers have had some adjusting to do. Legislative changes, such as Bill 6, have not been without controversy, but we perhaps haven’t seen the sweeping changes many feared. Still, farmers are dealing with depressed commodity markets and… Read More
We’re into Day 2 at FarmTech in Edmonton, AB. The crowd is buzzing, and today’s show is packed with on-location interviews: Scooped off the tradeshow floor, FarmTech delegate Matt Gosling joins the show to talk about Premium Ag, soil moisture concerns, and considering taking peas out of the rotation. Getting the crop off to a… Read More
Let’s get down to the nitty gritty on this week’s top agronomy questions, shall we? Peter Johnson is back for this last January 2018 instalment of Wheat Pete’s Word, and it’s an action-packed episode. Out west, farmers have two main concerns — lack of moisture and lack of moisture. This brings up two questions in this… Read More
Are you holding out for $10 yellow peas, when you know you’re profitable at $8 per bushel? That’s just one of the gems we’ve mined from this quick market recap from none other than FarmLead founder, Brennan Turner. Earlier this week, Turner once agains joined Shaun Haney at the RealAgriculture booth at FarmTech to wade… Read More
Does throwing the kitchen sink at your soybean crop provide an economic yield response? The answer is a definitive “No” says University of Minnesota associate professor Seth Naeve. His conclusion is based on the the results of a huge three-year U.S. study that he shared with growers attending the Southwest Agricultural Conference in Ridgetown, Ont.,… Read More