Monsanto has been named the company of the year by Forbes magazine for the January 2010 issue. Monsanto is recognized for outstanding innovation in its field and as a result healthy performance on wall street. For me Monsanto is one of those hot button topics that sends off flares and fireworks for all sides of… Read More
With public research in breeding getting cut back significantly across North America, some added funding is always welcomed. On Wednesday, the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency (ALMA) announced that they are going to invest eight million dollars into feed grains research. This money will fund projects in the area of varietal development and developing use technologies…. Read More
I attended the Canadian Seed Trade Meeting this week in Montreal. Every year the Canadian seed trade gets together to discuss the issues affecting the industry and meet within the industry to discuss business deals. The seed industry has many issues affecting it currently. Between flax exports, potential introduction of transgenic wheat, pollen flow and… Read More
This is part two of my interview with the President and CEO of the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency (ALMA), Gordon Cove. In this interview I asked questions provided to me by producers. I gathered questions from Twitter and Agriville and asked them in no particular order to Mr. Cove. I would suggest that many people at the… Read More
I was fortunate earlier this week to meet with the President & CEO of the Alberta Livestock Meat Agency, Gordon Cove. My interview is broken into two parts and I hope that you find it interesting and look upon it objectively. No matter where your meat politics reside you have to admit that the Alberta… Read More
There was a time when agriculture and food were sacred topics to the public. People were either on the farm or one generation removed which instilled a connection to the source of the food that we eat. In the past five years that has definitely changed as many food activists have begun attacking the large… Read More
As I have noted before on this site, this summer has been very interesting in terms of the changing landscape in wheat research and breeding. Monsanto, Bayer, and Syngenta are all engaged in the wheat breeding game. I have received, many emails from readers, asking the same question. “What will this mean for my farm… Read More
Dave Zino is the Executive Director of the NCBA Beef Culinary Center in Chicago. I had a chance to meet Dave at the Elanco Beef Consultants Forum 2009 in Banff earlier this month. Dave is a truly fascinating guy who has a real passion for how beef is cooked and trying to educate the public… Read More
The following article was published on Farms.com and Truthabouttrade.org. It was written by Dean Kleckner, an Iowa farmer, who chairs Truth About Trade & Technology Norman Borlaug once told me that he would trade away all of his life’s accomplishments just for the chance to play second base for the Chicago Cubs.Thank goodness he couldn’t… Read More
One of the great things about living in North America is that you can share your opinion freely. Whether you read this blog or others that share the counter point, you can provide opinion without fear of being burned at the stake or put on a firing line. This morning I was on Twitter and… Read More
Ross McKenzie, PhD of the Lethbridge Research Station talks about the agronomic considerations for winter wheat. Ross explains seeding dates, plant populations, nutrient requirements, specific variety considerations and seeding depth. Winter wheat is a great crop with many benefits. Planting winter wheat is a great way to lower the amount of workload in the spring… Read More
At the International Livestock Congress I talked to Dr. Alastair Cribb, Dean. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine University of Calgary about the balance between making decisions based on science versus emotion. Sometimes this can be a very grey area and will continue to be in the future as both scientific advancement and emotions increase. See more ILC… Read More
Last week I attended the Lacombe Research Station Field Day in Lacombe Alberta. I thought that it was a great time and I picked up some things about a couple varieties that I was unaware of. This is the first time that I have attended this event but based on my experience I will definitely… Read More
I firmly believe that the food system and farmers will always adjust to changes in eating patterns in the world. Dr. Bruce German of the University of California, Davis describes one of these changes. He believes that the notion that there is an ideal diet for everyone is nonsense. Dr. German feels that creating technologies on and off… Read More
In case you have not been following the story very closely, the debate over biotech wheat is about to restart again. Cereal breeding in North America has been on the downtrend. The past three months have brought wheat breeding investments by Dow Agro, Monsanto and Bayer. These strategic moves are quite obviously being executed so… Read More