Ontario’s vegetable processing industry has certainly faced its share of challenges in the last few years, but Cathy Lennon, general manager with Ontario Processing Vegetable Growers, says that there are also some great news stories of companies investing and expanding in the province. Lennon, whose organization represents over 380 tomato, cucumber, carrot, squash (and more!) growers,… Read more »
Category: Ag Business
Significant changes made to Tribine harvester
While in Boone, Iowa, for the Farm Progress Show, RealAgriculture’s Kelvin Heppner had a chance to check in with Ben Dillon, president of Tribine Industries, about where things are at with his new twist on the combine. In this interview, Dillon talks about his vision for a new generation of harvesters. “What we’ve been doing… Read more »
‘Grow A Leader’ campaign raises $250,000 for 4-H
SeCan’s annual Grow A Leader program has raised $52,716 to support 4-H Canada in 2018. Over its five-year history, the program has contributed more than $250,000 to support 4-H across the country. “4-H is all about developing rural leaders and that’s what we’re doing when we support this program,” says SeCan communications manager Brenda Trask. “We… Read more »
New Holland unveils MegaCutter 533 at Farm Progress Show
Attendees at the Farm Progress Show held in Boone, Iowa, were the first to view the New Holland MegaCutter 533, fully mounted disc mower conditioner — and it is big! Jordan Milewski, New Holland crop cutting product marketing manager, says, “The big cutting width on this machine is 33-and-a-half feet wide.” He explained, this means you can… Read more »
Seasoned agri-coaches launch Earth Dirt Soil
Starting this fall, farmers can expect to see a new company offering services in the field of agronomic advising. The group, logo, and name are new, to be sure, but the people behind the venture have quite a lot of experience. The new company, called Earth Dirt Soil, is set to offer “the kind of… Read more »
Pulse Canada working to establish predictability in trade with India
India was the guest that was notable by its absence at the recent Pulse and Special Crops Convention at Regina. The country has pulled back substantially from the pulse market and, although there were few attendees from that area of world, India was mentioned often from the stage and in the corridors. Dale Leftwich had… Read more »
Wheat School: How do we fund wheat research?
Over the last decade, the average yield increase for corn tips the scale at five bushels per acre, per year. During the same period wheat yield gains have averaged a meagre one bushel per acre, per year. What is the future of wheat if it can’t match the yield gains of crops like corn and… Read more »
BIXS updates name ahead of going public
Cattle traceability platform BIXS is getting a rebrand ahead of its parent Business Information Exchange Systems (BIXS) moving forward on plans to go public in late 2018. BIXSco Inc. announced this month that the company has rebranded as BIX Systems, comprised of Viewtrak Technologies and BIXSco Inc., as they work on first round fund-raising with… Read more »
City kids connect farmers to consumers in ‘Before the Plate’
What do you get when you connect two ‘city kid’ filmmakers, a world-class chef, and nine farmers and their families? You get Before The Plate, a genuine behind-the-kitchen-door, on-the-farm look at how food is produced in Canada, and the passion and commitment chefs and farmers apply to their craft. The driving force behind the film… Read more »
Cummins recalls 500,000 diesel trucks
Cummins is voluntarily recalling approximately 500,000 medium and heavy-duty trucks built between 2010 and 2015 — the largest voluntary truck emissions recall in U.S. history, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The problem stems from the durability of the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system. The SCR system controls NOx emissions, and was designed to last for… Read more »
BASF closes deal for LibertyLink canola and other assets from Bayer
BASF employees can officially get to work on the company’s newly-acquired business from Bayer. The company announced Wednesday that it has closed its acquisition of assets from Bayer, which competition regulators required Bayer sell to gain approval of its purchase of Monsanto that closed in early July. The 7.6 billion euro (C$11.5 billion at today’s… Read more »
Brevant seeds launches in Canada
As the dust settles on the recent major crop company mergers and acquisitions, the new, re-branded entities are beginning to emerge. Brand new for this year is the Brevant seed brand, by Corteva. Brad Orr, marketing leader for Corteva explains that, in Western Canada, producers will see canola and soybean offerings under the Brevant brand… Read more »
AGT Food and Ingredients announces bid to privatize
In a move some might already thought was coming, Saskatchewan-based AGT Food and Ingredients Inc announced Thursday it would be seeking privatization. The pulse processing and export company announced the move to go private this morning, but did not offer a clear indication as to when the privatization would actually take place. According to a… Read more »
Quietly making a difference: farmer and retailer partner on charity Prairie project
There is natural tendency for people to focus on contention or what seems to be wrong with the world. It is nice, then, to hear about people, communities, corporations, and non-governmental organizations that are working together to make things better. One such project is the Balgonie Harvest of Hope. Franck Groeneweg, an Edgeley-area farmer is… Read more »
India: How will it affect marketing peas off the combine?
All farmers are concerned about how markets have been adversely affected by tariff and fumigation restrictions placed on imports in to India. Peas are of special concern. Markets are certainly roiled, but some new buyers have stepped in to take up some of the slack. Marlene Boesch of Mercantile Consulting Ventures was at the recent… Read more »