Category: Barley

The Western Grains Research Foundation is reminding farmers that the federal government annually provides a Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) tax credit to producers offering them a tax credit on their check-off investments. The tax credit percentage for producers who contributed to the Wheat and Barley Check-off, administered by the Western Grains Research Foundation... Read More

The most important pass a farmer makes every year is the one with the seeder. There's no way to add yield or plants if you make a big mistake on that first pass — no amount of fungicide, herbicide or specialty product is going to come to the rescue. But seeding conditions in Western Canada... Read More

The world almost ended twice in 2012. Farmers had to beware of the Mayan calendar but also earlier in the year the CWB officially lost it's monopoly on the sale of wheat in Canada. Some people predicted armageddon, while others believed that the benefits were huge. Chuck Penner, LeftField Commodity Research talked to me on... Read More

Any way you look at it, 90 million dollars is a lot of money. That's the amount the Western Grains Research Foundation has accrued over the years due to the railways exceeding their revenue cap. That's sad news for farmers who paid much more than they should have for transport, but the good news is... Read More

The world is a much smaller place than it ever was. When it comes to areas like feed grains, what was once a very localized trade is now increasingly international. That requires a new level of international awareness for producers, especially in times marked by historic highs and increasingly tight supplies. So what should we... Read More

The optimism cattle producers started off 2012 with has become a little less broad and a little more cautious as 2012 starts to wind down. High commodity prices, a brutal US drought and high replacement costs among other factors have really dampened the high enthusiasm seen at the beginning of the year. It was February... Read More

Many of the typical downgrading threats at harvest were a non-issue this year. There were no early frosts and very little rain to stain and sprout kernels. As such, much of the 2012 crop is testing very well with high germination rates and low weathering. The news is not all good, however, as extremely hot... Read More

Harvest is a great time to grab a sample of grain and have it tested for germination and disease levels. Harvest is also the easiest (and warmest) time to get a representative sample, as you can sample as you fill bins. The sooner you know some basic quality parameters the better, as poor germ or... Read More

After a chemical manufacturer discovers a new crop protection chemical family, the normal response within the industry is to focus research on better versions of the same chemistry. This typically results in several new brands being launched, each claiming to be slightly better than the last. This seems to be the case with DuPont’s new... Read More

I was combing through my Twitter feed last night and thought that it felt a little like Y2K — would the stroke of midnight bring certain doom as many monopoly supporters would have had us believe or would the sun rise, just like any other day? Of course, today — the first day of the... Read More