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
Want to know how to increase your spring wheat yield by 40%? Looking for a way to spread out the seeding of your spring crops? If you are in an area of Canada that is applicable to frost seeding the rewards can be high but it is definitely not a simple process. I talked to… Read More
Emotion is a powerful thing. Many people make decisions based on emotion and not science. There is some irony in all of this based on our scientific knowledge has never been higher. We know more about the genome of plants than ever before in our history. Yet at the same time emotions are high and… Read More
I talked to Dustin Gosnell, Director of Strategic Planning and Corporate Policy, Canadian Wheat Board about GM wheat and the CWB’s position on the latest WTO issues. Agricultural trade issues are really sensitive and controversial issues right now. Never mind the trade issues that North America has with China and the other BRIC countries but the… Read More
In my opinion, inoculants are a very interesting product. Products like Nodulator fix Nitrogen which has benefits for this years soybean or pulse crop but also has extreme benefits for next years cereal crop to. Its one of those amazing innovations in agriculture that we take for granted sometimes until you really sit down and… Read More
At one time we mainly used shovels to move grain. When the auger was invented it was a huge innovation for not only moving grain but also for saving the backs of farmers. At CropWeek there was more augers than you would believe. The auger is no longer the only way to move grain today… Read More
Wheat midge has great impact on wheat growers in many areas. This year will be the first year that farmers will be able to purchase midge tolerant varieties. There are three different varieties right now and more in the pipeline. It is critical that as an industry we properly manage this great new innovation in… Read More