On November 5, at Agri-Trade Expo, BASF announced the release of Compass Grower, a new web-based farm management tool. The tool was developed by Affinitiy Management Ltd., a partner of Microsoft, and is intended to fully integrate all aspects of farming in their accounting platform, which combines crop, financial and grain marketing management data. With… Read More
Shipping your own railcar can have numerous benefits, not the least of which is selling grain at a higher price than local elevators are willing to offer. At the same time there’s also a fair amount of risk in counting on producer cars to market grain — just ask one of the farmers who are… Read More
Corn and wheat futures moved higher, while soybean values dropped following the release of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s November crop production and supply/demand estimates on Monday morning. The numbers were not as bearish as many traders and analysts were expecting, says Mike Krueger, president of The Money Farm, in the interview above. “People thought… Read More
Honey Bee’s new AirFlex draper header created quite the buzz at Agri-Trade ’14 last week. The header can be used in flex or rigid mode, with the transition between them requiring the push of a button and only a few minutes worth of patience. In flex mode, the cutterbar shaves the ground with 9″ worth of flex,… Read More
Want to know what buyers look for in a soybean sample? Or what you don’t want to see in your soybeans? This episode of the Soybean School takes us to the Canadian Grain Commission grading lab in Winnipeg. Thanks to Daryl Beswitherick, program manager for quality assurance and re-inspection at the CGC, for taking some time… Read More
Planting delays in Brazil due to dry conditions have provided some support to global oilseed markets over the last month or so, but it’s too early to be concerned about dryness. That’s according to Pedro Dejneka, managing partner with AGR Brasil — a unit of AgResource Company, who shared the South American market outlook at the Cereals… Read More
With harvest all but done in Western Canada and producers finally getting into corn in the East, farm show and meeting season has arrived. Several Real Ag team members are attending Agri-Trade in Red Deer this week, as Kelvin Heppner touches base with Shaun Haney at Westerner Park on this week’s ag news podcast. Kelvin also has more from the… Read More
The first thing Jeff Schoenau likes to do when assessing soil is dig. Schoenau is Ministry of Agriculture Strategic Research Chair and professor at the University of Saskatchewan and he believes digging a soil pit can give a good indication of the vertical distribution of nutrients in a given area. But, as tiring as digging a… Read More
With the recent rally in soybeans looking like it might be over, there could be some major downside to oilseed prices, according to the chief economist for AgResource Company. Bill Tierney, speaking at the Cereals North America conference in Winnipeg last week, called the rally “seemingly inexplicable,” as there were no significant changes in U.S…. Read More
In 2015, growers can purchase Nexera canola under a Flexibility Agreement. The Flexibility Agreement allows farmers to produce Nexera canola and sell it as either a commodity canola or, potentially garner a delivery contract with a health premium in the Omega-9 Oils market. “The only request we have of the grower, if he’s going to sign a Nexera Flexibility Agreement, that he… Read More
Genetic resistance to clubroot is breaking down in western Canada, Bt traits are losing efficacy in the States and weeds such as palmer amaranth and kochia are swiftly becoming resistant to glyphosate. Is biotechnology really offering sustainable solutions to agricultural woes? According to Maurice Moloney, group executive, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Australia, though western Canadian farmers… Read More
“It’s all about doing more with less,” says Mark Futcher. Futcher is the marketing manager of automatic milking systems for DeLaval, and he sees adoption of technology as a way to increase efficiencies on the farm. One of Futcher’s focuses is FOSS & DeLaval Solution’s Herd Navigator System, a technology designed to identify milking cows in need of… Read More
With record prices and strong profits over the last year, are we on the verge of seeing renewed excitement about pig production in Canada? The previous decade was filled with challenges, but with pork prices where they’ve been over the last year, there should be some incentive to build new barns, or at least fill… Read More
John Deere recently launched its 8000 Series of self-propelled forage harvesters with five new models. “The 8000 Series builds upon the best features of our popular 7000 Series Self-Propelled Forage Harvesters,” said Shaun Fritchey, marketing representative, John Deere Ottumwa Works, in a release. “This new series integrates cutting-edge crop analysis and documentation with an innovative machine design to provide… Read More
Farm management and variable rate advisory firm Decisive Farming and Canada’s largest Case IH dealer — Rocky Mountain Equipment — have announced an alliance to integrate tech support for variable rate equipment. “There’s always been a gap in the market before this alliance between the variable rate provider and the equipment dealer. This is closing… Read More