The National Farmers Union (NFU) has been throwing stones at Federal Agricultural Minister Gerry Ritz this week about the EU / Canada Free Trade Agreement that should be finalized by the end of the year. In a recent Better Farming story, NFU President Terry Boehm is quoted as saying……. These measures are so draconian that… Read More
Globally, we€™re in a position where demand for wheat is surpassing supply. Figures from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) show wheat demand growing by 1.5 per cent per year, while annual production is increasing by only 0.9 per cent. With the global population expected to rise to over 9 billion by 2050,… Read More
In recent years more and more farmers are looking at the growing season from a systems approach. In the past farmers and and suppliers for the most part considered most inputs independent of one another, working on their own piece of responsibility in the growing cycle. Many researchers, input suppliers and farmers are trying to… Read More
Recently I travelled to Indianapolis, Indiana to visit the global headquarters of Dow Agro Sciences. I had the opportunity along with several other people from the Canadian ag media to entrench ourselves in the company’s strategy and objectives to better understand the company. Much of the presentation had to do with with the opportunities for… Read More
When farmers make decisions on the varieties that they are going to purchase many farmers enact different strategies. For a vast amount of farmers the decision is based on trial results that are published by private companies and independent sources. There is just one problem with that….The prairie canola variety trials have been abandoned by… Read More
I have always found that many farmers do not fully understand how some of the products that they use are effective. I definitely have some products that I think I understand but am probably making some assumptions. This has become an even bigger issue with the pace that technology is being brought to the… Read More
Recently a study found that 40% of corn farmers were not following the refuge requirements of Bt trait corn. Stewardship guidelines are in place for a reason yet farmers are not playing along the way they should be. Many farmers complain of yield drag and not wanting to comprise yield at all by planting a… Read More
If you haven’t noticed seed companies are just as interested in the things being applied to the seed as the seed itself. This is due to the continued push towards looking at the full production cycle instead individual unconnected mutually exclusive events in the production cycle. At Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show I discussed this trend… Read More
One of the special things in agriculture is the knowledge that is passed down from one generation to another. In most cases this is a possible experience but sometimes poor information slips through the cracks. A great example of this is the calculation of wheat seeding rates. Whether you are in Eastern or Western Canada… Read More
At the ISF 2010 World Seed Congress last week I had the chance to talk to Dave Sippell, President of the Canadian Seed Trade Association about the potential impacts of Bill C-474. Dr. Sippell discusses the Canadian Seed Trade’s position and why they think this bill would be putting the future of Canadian seed innovation… Read More
This week I attended my first ever International Seed Federation World Seed Congress which was held in Calgary. This was a great honor and privilege for the Canadian seed industry to host such an event. There was just short of 1000 delegates from around the world in attendance and in Calgary for the week. In… Read More
So far we have addressed seeding speed and seeding depth. The last piece of this seeding triangle is the seeding rate. Whether you are seeding canola, corn, soybeans or canola you need to make sure that you are seeding at a rate that allows you to get the proper emergence. As Derwyn Hammond, Canola Council of… Read More
My family’s seed business has seen a dramatic change in the importance of treating cereal seed on our customer’s farms. With the increase in research and commitment to ensuring seed and applicator safety the products available to the market have changed drastically. The products are not the only things changing these days. In order to… Read More
By Garth Donald, Dynagra We have to look back in history to understand how seed treatments came to be. Some of the first seed treatment goes as far back to when the first settlers came to North America. This was just by accident that some of the seed bags fell in the salt water and… Read More
Sean Gardner may have the future of the wheat industry in his hands. As the Monsanto Global Wheat Lead, Sean is charged with the task of leveraging Monsanto’s current breeding technologies to bring biotech wheat to the market and to develop a value capture model for wheat. It is no secret that the wheat game… Read More