For a lot of farmers across the west, figuring out when to swath their canola fields may be as stressful as trying to get it in the ground was. The overabundance of moisture and the cool temperatures that producers had to deal with at the beginning of the season have caused varied staging in areas… Read More
Category: Harvest
Test weights on wheat are down below average in parts of Ontario. Compared to this time last year, yields by test weight alone are down by as much as 10% in areas. There are a couple of reasons behind this. The first involves under-filled kernels from plants surrounding dead zones in the field being… Read More
When farmers choose varieties one of the most common used criteria is stand ability. Sometimes crops lodge no matte what variety you choose due to late moisture, wind or above average weight of the crop. One of the tools that farmers are including on their combine headers is Flexxifinger crop lifters. At CropWeek 2011 in… Read More
This week I helped out Farms.com by filming the Canola Harvest Watch. I talked to Serfas Farms just south of Lethbridge about how their canola harvest went. The Serfas’s are a family operation that farms wheat, barley, canola and silage corn. Mark and Kevin farm with their dad Herb and are based in Turin, Alberta…. Read More
As we discussed with Dana Omland from Palmerston Grain last week, the USDA report shocked the market. With corn yields being revised lower in the US, many producers are wondering what is the deal with the next year of commodity prices. Will we see a repeat of 2007 or a quick trade and then the… Read More
When I was at CropWeek last January lentils were all the rage for farmers. With high prices and increasing acres many people, including myself thought the best thing to do was to forward sell 2010 crop at low 20’s to protect against a bearish market. Throw in a poor spring, a wet harvest and resulting… Read More
Harry Siemens discusses the Manitoba harvest with me. Every province really has a different story to tell this year and Manitoba is no different. The crop went in quick but the bite of an early fall is providing challenges to many farmers. In the spring Manitoba farmers were able to get the crop in fas… Read More
By Shaun Haney Its official the harvest of 2010 that we feared appears to be here. Even though David Phillips may of thought we would be free of frost, it is cold and wet. Is a hard frost next? The low hanging fruit of harvesting the early seeded crops is gone and now farmers across the… Read More
This is appearing to be a difficult year to try and execute on a marketing plan that you can have conviction in. Between the late crop, uncertain yields, carry out numbers being questionable and fluctuating basis levels, farmers are really having their marketing plans tested. Even the most experienced analysts are questioning what is the… Read More
By Megan Oleksyn Peas, barley and corn, oh my! Here in Western Canada, there are many different forage crops that can be cost-effectively turned into silage for cattle. High River area rancher, Phil Rowland, comments that silage is €œthe easiest way to put up a consistent quality forage crop in Alberta€™s variable climate conditions.€ And… Read More
How many coffee shops in Western Canada are talking about the fall weather. Will we get an early frost? Does late spring mean early fall? Can September be the hottest month of the year again? Weather is always something that occupies a farmers mind because the timing is so critical. For example, if we have… Read More
Recently the Canola Council of Canada hosted a combine clinic to help growers optimize the settings of their machines. Throw-over loss seems to be more of a serious issue than many growers want to discuss or admit. In this weeks episode of the Canola School we put together a single video getting commentary from four… Read More
The wheat harvest in Ontario is underway and off to the start that everyone was hoping for. The wheat crop in Ontario has really faced the perfect spring and summer. In this episode of the Wheat School, Peter Johnson, Cereal Specialist, OMAFRA gives us an Ontario wheat harvest update. Peter updates us on yields, disease… Read More
One thing this wet spring has taught most of the western Canadian farmers is that maybe canola growers are leaving way too much canola in the field to grow as volunteer the next crop year. Canola volunteers have been very prevalent in the field and one of the ways that this can be minimized is… Read More
In the United States grain carts have been very popular for quite some time. In Canada they are really catching on and becoming more common. As explained to me by Shawn Berry, Territory Manager, Unverferth, the grain cart provides increased productivity to the farm because the combine never stops to unload the hopper. Unloading on… Read More