Viterra has announced plans to purchase ILTA Grain Inc.’s processing facility at Belle Plaine, Sask., by the end of August. Belle Plaine is one of six locations ILTA Grain has in Saskatchewan. The company recently announced it had entered creditor protection. “We are pleased to be working towards integrating this high quality facility into our… Read More
Corn needs about 55 to 60 calendar days to go from tassel to black layer… but that holds true, generally speaking for Ontario, if tasseling happens in mid-July. RealAgriculture resident agronomist Peter Johnson says that because that 60 “days” is really a measure of heat accumulation, hitting black layer when tasseling starts in early August… Read More
Did you know that soil helps to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere, helps to clean water as it percolates through, and is filled with living organisms? Our soil and its health isn’t just imperative to agriculture — but to many other aspects of our ever-growing population. Jim Tokarchuk, executive director with the Soil Conservation… Read More
It’s the start of the week and that means it’s time for another edition of agronomic Monday on RealAg Radio! Today on the show: RealAgriculture’s in-house agronomist, Peter ‘Wheat Pete’ Johnson joins host Shaun Haney to talk all things agronomy including: wacky weather, corn maturity, spider mites, a compaction day and, of course, as always,… Read More
As an industry, agriculture rarely makes it into mainstream media. When it does, many within agriculture lament that it’s a negative story, heavily biased, or poorly researched and too basic. Toban Dyck is someone who wears many hats. He serves as director of communications for the Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers, but he’s also a… Read More
The Ontario government is committing $1.2 million in agri-food research funding for projects related to bioproducts, waste reduction, and recycling technologies. Through the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance, the government is funding research to develop and market biodegradable and/or compostable straws made from natural fibre using Ontario-grown miscanthus grass and corn stover. It is anticipated the material… Read More
Grain markets in the second half of this week battled to recoup its losses from the first half after the USDA said there was way more corn planted and its yields would be better, basically contradicting everything that the market was expecting. The biggest surprise from the USDA on Monday was acres. Everyone and their… Read More
What do Chinese government leaders think of Canada? Can our government correct a policy course that has put Canadian agricultural exports on the ropes and knocked canola and meat out of the globe’s most lucrative economy? Earlier this week, RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney put these questions to Charles Burton, senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier… Read More
The fury and confusion hasn’t quite settled, following the USDA’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report released this week. “(It) doesn’t make any sense, and I think probably 98 per cent of the people, and market analysts, farmers, grain buyers, etc. all thought the exact same thing — probably actually 99.8 per cent,”… Read More
The climate change and land use report released last week by the United Nations generated plenty of headlines and tremendous discussion. But the media coverage of The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) really missed the mark, says Dr. Frank Mitloehner, University of California, Davis animal science professor and air quality extension specialist. This week… Read More
Farm at Hand announced Tuesday that it has joined “the TELUS family,” in an effort to make the farm platform more user-friendly and provide more options. The farm management platform, which was launched in 2012, makes it easier for growers to track farm inventory and manage field records — whether it be equipment, crop inventory,… Read More
Could 2019 be another ‘gibb’ year for corn growers? That’s a question RealAgriculture agronomist Peter Johnson encounters almost daily. When asked, he says there’s “not a chance” of the widespread gibberella outbreak Ontario growers experienced in 2018. However, he notes that “in isolated areas, we do have a high risk of gibberella ear rot infection… Read More
Chances are you’ve never decanted window cleaner and blue raspberry gatorade side-by-side, but if you did, you’d likely be shocked at the similarity. In fact, many chemicals bear striking resemblances to palatable substances, particularly to a child’s eye. And that was one of the messages brought to Saskatchewan by the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA)… Read More
As if Alberta’s northern region hadn’t had enough adversity this growing season, social media filled with reports of frost over the weekend. Christi Friesen, a farmer in the province’s Peace Country, tweeted a picture confirming the frost early Saturday morning, writing that the barley and wheat (early milk to early dough stage) were officially hit…. Read More
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is out with its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE). It appears as though corn is back as king, with the department forecasting corn production at 13.9 billion bushels — that’s up 26 million from last month’s projection. The first yield forecast of the season, which… Read More