“We’ve always done it that way” isn’t always the best approach in farming, and that includes the decision on how much fertilizer to put down with canola at seeding. Canola is sensitive to fertilizer toxicity, especially in dry soil conditions. It’s well worth revisiting what’s traditionally been considered a safe rate in the seed row,… Read More
Author: Kelvin Heppner
Kelvin Heppner, field editor for RealAgriculture, has been reporting on Canadian agriculture since 2008(ish). When he's not working on a story, he's usually in a chicken barn or a field, as he also farms with his family near Altona, Manitoba.
While the European Union is ahead of the pack when it comes to applying a carbon tariff to imports, Canada and the U.S. are also looking at implementing border carbon adjustments. Fertilizer will be front and centre, along with steel and cement, when it comes to imports subject to the EU’s border carbon adjustment that… Read More
The federal government announced a series of changes to its policies around pesticide use on Tuesday, including the introduction of a ban on cosmetic uses of pesticides on federal land and the end of a nearly two-year pause on reviews of maximum residue limits (MRLs). CropLife Canada, which represents companies that make crop protection products,… Read More
The weeks following planting season — when problems that arose during planting are still top of mind and planter-related issues can be identified in the field — offer an opportunity to pro-actively perform maintenance and upgrades before parking the planter in the back of the shed. The summer months can also coincide with equipment dealer… Read More
The official announcement this week of a deal to merge Bunge and Viterra raises a series of questions about how farmers, customers, and both companies’ operations will be affected by the marriage of the two global agribusinesses under the Bunge name. When it comes to the Canadian market, farmers and politicians are voicing concerns about… Read More
The odds that the bill that would remove the federal government’s carbon tax from fuels used for grain drying and barn heating will become law before summer are fading, following delays in the Senate. The Agriculture Carbon Alliance and its farm group members welcomed the passage of Bill C-234 at second reading in the Senate… Read More
The proof is in the plant stand when it comes to evaluating how a corn planter performed in spring. This episode of RealAgriculture’s Corn School is all about grading planter performance, as we head to a field near Homewood, Man., with Breanne Rey of PRIDE Seeds and planter expert Andrew Kippen of North Valley Precision… Read More
Bunge and Viterra have reached an agreement that would see the two global agribusinesses unite under the Bunge name. Bunge and Glencore — which owns 50 per cent of Viterra — announced the cash and stock transaction early Tuesday (June 13.) The deal values Viterra at approximately US$8.1 billion, and would see Glencore receive approximately… Read More
Farm groups are urging members of the Senate to avoid stalling on Bill C-234, with limited time left on the calendar before Parliament’s summer break. The proposed legislation, which was approved by the House of Commons earlier this year, would remove the federal carbon tax from propane and natural gas used for grain drying, barn… Read More
The Canadian government has decided to sign on as a third party in the United States’ request for dispute settlement consultations regarding Mexico’s restrictions on biotechnology in agriculture. Canada’s trade and agriculture ministers, Mary Ng and Marie-Claude Bibeau, announced the decision on Friday, which was the deadline for joining the U.S. challenge under the rules… Read More
Update, June 9: The Canadian government has decided to sign on as a third party in the United States’ request for dispute settlement consultations regarding Mexico’s restrictions on biotechnology in agriculture. The U.S. government’s challenge of Mexico’s ban of genetically-modified (GM) corn for common food uses is being closely monitored in Canada, specifically in the… Read More
Verticillium stripe — a disease first discovered in Western Canada in 2014 — appears to be taking advantage of the stress to canola plants caused by an old, familiar disease pathogen. While research to understand Verticillium longisporum in the Prairies is still in its early stages, there’s a hypothesis that its prevalence in a canola… Read More
The Canadian government has not yet decided whether it will join the U.S. in its trade dispute over Mexico’s restrictions on agricultural biotechnology. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai formally requested dispute settlement consultations with Mexico under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA or USMCA) trade agreement on Friday. The dispute revolves around Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s… Read More
There are still plenty of unknowns surrounding the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak that has killed millions of chickens and turkeys on farms across North America going back to early 2022, but a drop in the number of new cases in the month of May is a positive sign for the poultry sector. The… Read More
A new report commissioned by the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association (SSGA) and the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Foundation (SSGF) looks at the differences in profitability between cow-calf and annual crop production in southwest Saskatchewan. Over a 50 year time period, the returns from grain farming are $508/acre higher than cow-calf production, according to the research modelling… Read More