Claas unveiled its new Convio draper header series at the Farm Progress Show in Iowa last week, including a new model outfitted specifically for straight-harvesting canola. Available in widths of 35 to 45 feet, the Convio Flex draper features up to 9 inches of vertical flex, says product manager Jeff Gray, in the interview below…. Read More
So I have a bit of personal news that’s been a long time coming. Honestly, I’d find it much easier to write another news story or discuss some issue affecting Canadian ag than write this note, which is why I’ve been putting this off for a while, but it’s time to share publicly… After just over a… Read More
Nearly 50 scientists and regulators with Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) hopped on a pair of buses a few weeks ago and spent a day in the field 45 minutes from Ottawa learning about how the crop protection products they regulate are used by farmers. The first-ever PMRA field day, held on a farm… Read More
The federal government is investing up to $12.1 million over the next five years in a new canola research cluster under the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced the funding at the Bruce D. Campbell Farm & Food Discovery Centre south of Winnipeg on Tuesday morning. Provincial canola grower groups — Alberta Canola,… Read More
An aftermarket kit that turns a regular tractor into an autonomous machine made its Farm Progress Show debut in Boone, Iowa this week. Smart Ag, based in Ames, Iowa, has developed a software platform and kit for controlling a tractor without a driver. The first application for the platform, called AutoCart, automates a grain cart… Read More
An intense round of talks between Canada and the U.S. to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came to an end Friday afternoon without an agreement, but with both sides reporting progress and planning to resume negotiations on Wednesday. “We are continuing to work hard, and we are making progress. We’re not there… Read More
The impact of dry conditions across the southern prairies is evident in Statistics Canada’s first report on 2018 crop production. Canola and spring wheat futures were higher following the report’s release on Friday morning. Most of the production and yield figures came in on the lower end of the range of pre-report estimates. The report was… Read More
U.S. corn growers are voicing concerns and disappointment with their federal administration as the penny-per-bushel trade aid announced earlier this week added to frustrations over retaliatory tariffs and how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is handling ethanol policy. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue tried to allay those concerns at the Farm Progress Show in Boone,… Read More
The U.S. government announced details of its $12 billion trade aid package on Monday, including nearly $4.7 billion in direct payments to American farmers based on their 2018 production. Direct payments Initial payments will be available on corn, cotton, dairy, hog, sorghum, soybean, and wheat starting September 4. “Early on, the President instructed me, as… Read More
After seed is placed in the ground, the yield potential of a crop is often determined by water availability. If it’s too dry, a grower may decide against top-dressing fertilizer or applying a fungicide. In other cases, there might be more soil moisture available to the plants than recent weather or a rain gauge would… Read More
A U.S. District Court in Nebraska has ruled in favour of Farmers Edge in a counterclaim case launched by Farmobile — the latest development in a legal dispute between the two agtech companies. Back in May, the court dismissed Farmers Edge’s claims in a trade secrets lawsuit against Farmobile related to technology used for gathering… Read More
Combine loss monitors are useful for understanding whether the amount of grain being thrown out the back of a combine is increasing or decreasing, but they’re not a great tool for quantifying those losses, according to research conducted by PAMI (Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute). The recent project focused on understanding the accuracy of combine loss… Read More
Agriculture industry and farm groups are voicing strong concerns about Health Canada’s proposed ban of two neonicotinoid (neonic) crop protection products announced on Wednesday. Citing risk to aquatic insects, such as mayflies and midges, not bees, the federal health department’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is looking to phase out all agricultural uses of thiamethoxam… Read More
Glyphosate — commonly known as Roundup — suffered a blow in the court of public opinion following a California jury decision last week, but the actual legal implications of the verdict are still to be determined in court. The jury found Monsanto liable in a case where former school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson alleges exposure to… Read More
Soybean futures took a 42-cent tumble on Friday after the USDA surprised the market with a 51.6 bushel/acre yield estimate for the U.S. crop — approximately two bushels higher than the average trade guess. The projected yield increase translated into a record 785 million bushel carryout projection (up from the department’s 580 million bushel estimate in… Read More