Recently it was announced that Tom Wolf’s research program will be cut completely by Ag Canada. The reaction from agronomists, manufacturers and farmers has been quite strong. So strong that some of the industry associations are trying to save the program. When word got out tweets started to fly just like this one. Tom Wolf’s… Read More
Category: Research
Canola is big business on the prairies. This year alone it’s estimated that roughly 20 million acres of canola will be planted across the prairies. The economics of that are staggering. It also goes without saying that the spin off from those acres has a huge impact as well. Crop inputs, agronomic services, seed treatments… Read More
Any type of disease that affects the seedling stage of canola has to be taken seriously. Seedling blight can be devastating to your canola crop before or after germination. Knowing what you’re looking for and how to deal with it can put you in a position to assess your risk and take action that can… Read More
The difference in bushels per acre of wheat from country to country is larger than you might think. On the surface that may seem fairly obvious when we see a drastic difference between climates or access to technologies, but when we look to level the playing field in these areas it begs the question: Can… Read More
The Alberta Pulse Industry has room to grow. There are close to 1 million acres in Alberta dedicated to pulses with a mandate by the Alberta Pulse Growers Association to increase that by 15% over the next 2 years. There are a number of things that the Association is doing to help that along including… Read More
On-farm trials are an exercise not widely pursued by farmers in general. What’s unfortunate about that is the fact that most farmers could stand to benefit greatly from adopting some type of on-farm trial. The reason being that a lot of manufacturer trials are limited in scope for financial reasons. They may perform fewer location… Read More
Considering some of the conditions during planting last year, the provincial average yield for soybeans was fairly impressive. If we can get 45 bushels last year, what is the real long term potential of soybean yields? What factors can we look at to bump those yields even higher. It has been reported that a grower… Read More
In order for the pulse industry to grow in Canada, a number of areas have to be looked at. One of those areas is market development. The world’s food needs are growing and changing. New markets are opening up as a middle class emerges in areas of the developing world. Those people have specific end-use… Read More
The last time we spoke to Patrick Crampton, we talked about Agrisoma’s research and development of the carinata plant in the area of biofuels. The plant is very similar to canola, but with an industrial oil profile suited well to diesel and jet fuel usage. The agronomics are very similar to canola in the fact… Read More
Here we are again at the end of another year. It’s been a great year at RealAgriculture.com. Our YouTube channel has had over 150,000 views this year and our website traffic has grown dramatically. We’ve met some great people and covered some fascinating stories. We’ve also come together in some great new partnerships to launch… Read More
With the release of the Ontario 2011 hybrid corn performance trials, growers get a chance to review how last years varieties performed and what might be a good idea to plant in 2012. As always there are many options and getting as much information as possible can help narrow down some of these tough decisions. … Read More
A couple weeks ago at the Canadian Seed Trade Association meeting in Toronto, the seed industry released a video that demonstrates the challenges ahead for agriculture. You may know the issue as the “feeding the world” challenge. The video demonstrates the realities but at the same time lays the groundwork for the role of… Read More
“Healthy alternative” is one of the most popular descriptive phrases circulating in North America today. Consumers are becoming more and more health conscious as the effects of years of poor eating habits are showing themselves all over the health care system. The North American food industry has had to make some big changes over the… Read More
The global demand for wheat is expected to double over the next forty years – and Canada can play an important role in meeting that demand. In addition to its growing prominence on the world stage, what makes wheat truly exciting is its significant potential for technology transformation – and Canadian agriculture has the opportunity… Read More
Where are we headed in agriculture? What does the future hold for biotechnology and food production? Where will the next big innovations in these areas come from? Dr Stan Blade hopes those innovations will come from in Alberta. Dr. Blade is the CEO of Alberta Innovates – Bio Solutions. They help companies working on research… Read More