Dairy farmer Crosbie Williams milks 180 cows in a modern freestyle barn at Pond View Farms in Goulds, Newfoundland. Williams and his brother, Ray, operate one of 19 dairy farms in a province that boasts the largest dairy operations, based on average cow numbers, in the country. Those farms produce 100 per cent of the… Read More
Category: Profitable Practices
Scott Buchan sees the impact of technology whenever he’s watching his broiler chickens or looking at his hydro bills. For Buchan, who operates Buchrest Farms along with his family in Ontario’s Waterloo Region, investing in technology and innovation plays a key role in making the operation more profitable and sustainable. Buchan notes that his energy… Read More
Grazing corn is becoming increasingly more common. So is grazing cover crops. But what happens when you put the two together? How wide should the corn rows be in order to make space for the cover crop? And is this a profitable way of farming? Byron Long of Long Family Farm at Barrhead County, Alberta… Read More
When Dave Van Belle hears the word ‘sustainability’ the first two things that come to his mind are environmental sustainability and economic sustainability. The two go hand in hand, says the president of Van Belle Nursery, a family-owned wholesale nursery located just north of Abbotsford, B.C. Over the last 50 years the business has grown… Read More
Red Sun Farms in Kingsville, Ont., is one of 170 greenhouse vegetable farms in Ontario. Across the province, the Ontario greenhouse vegetable industry grows tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in 3,900 acres of greehhouse, producing 521 million kilograms of fresh vegetables with a farm gate value of more than $1.4 billion. On this episode of Profitable… Read More
How does an on-farm biodigester and 2,200 beef cattle merge to make a farm more profitable and sustainable? On this episode of RealAgriculture’s Profitable Practices, Carl Frook shares how Frook Farms and Mar Creek Renewables have come together to help him manage manure, his cattle, his crops, and boost the bottom line for the family… Read More
Potato farmers on Prince Edward Island have increased their use of cover crops dramatically over the last five years. PEI farmers have been measuring the growth and impact of cover crops through participation in Living Lab — Atlantic, a four-year innovation project on the island that involves researchers and industry stakeholders. Living Lab data shows… Read More
What if there was a way to boost the number of acres harvested in a day by 20 to 50 per cent while reducing fuel consumption by a similar amount? It may sound too good to be true, but that’s been the experience of Darren Maddess after switching his New Holland combine from a conventional… Read More
Seven years ago, Chris Moore and Lyndsey Smith decided they needed more acres if they were going run a viable sheep farm. But rather than buy land, the partners opted to try their hand at solar grazing their Shady Creek Lamb flock at a solar power installation near their Kinburn, Ont., home farm. What started as… Read More
For more than 10 growing seasons, some fields around Midale, Saskatchewan, have looked just a little different. Instead of solid fields of yellow canola or green pea stands, those traveling through might think they’re seeing both. And that’s because they are. Intercropping — the practice of growing two or more crops at the same time… Read More