Canadian honeybee overwintering numbers are in for the 2014/15 season, and the results show a strong start to the 2015 year. Representing over 360,000 honey colonies (over half of all colonies in the country), the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA) says that its survey of 443 beekeepers pegs the Canadian average of overwintering loss… Read More
Category: Crop Production
On May 21, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency warned consumers of a possible food tampering situation where needles and nails appeared to be showing up in potatoes, primarily in our Atlantic provinces. And this week, the growing concern of food and farm tampering was on the agenda, as federal, provincial and territorial agriculture ministers converged… Read More
What does every farmer want out of a crop? Yield and profitability. From variety selection, to fertilizer rates, and crop protection products, farmers are always looking for new ways to stack the deck in their favour. Of course, the best laid plans can be thwarted by a cold, wet spring, or dry weather and drought…. Read More
Whether it’s growing demand for protein or pressure to reduce carbon footprints in the food chain, pulses appear well-positioned to benefit from global food trends. As the largest pea and lentil exporter in the world, Western Canada stands to become the “protein basket of the world,” says Murad Al Katib, president and CEO of Regina-based AGT… Read More
Wheat should be moving off the field and into the bin by now, but the ’15 wheat crop just seems to be grinding through maturity and not finishing up. As @WheatPete explains in this week’s edition of the Word, this complicates things on a few fronts, as grain fill is likely to be improved (yay!),… Read More
A day after National French Fry Day, federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced a $1.4 million investment in potato yield research through Potatoes New Brunswick on Tuesday. The AgriInnovation Program funding will be used to identify factors that limit potato yields as part of a national effort to boost “the export competitiveness of Canadian French fries.” “The stakes for… Read More
Is wheat falling behind when it comes to research advancements and attracting investment? That depends, answers Bryan Gerard, president of Gerard Seed Solutions based in Indiana, if you’re comparing the dollars and cents to totals spent on corn and soy, or comparing the historic value invested in the crop. RealAgriculture’s Bern Tobin caught up with… Read More
It’s generally agreed that most of the earthworm species native to Canada were actually wiped out during the glacial period. Since then, new species have been introduced to the country, with at least 14 non-native species now tunneling their way through Alberta’s soils alone. To most of us, earthworms are an indicator of good (or… Read More
It’s been over a year and a half since the European Commission restricted the use of neonicotinoid insecticides across the EU in an attempt to help bee populations, an approach that the Ontario government is in many ways emulating with its new neonic seed treatment regulations for corn and soybeans. The impact the suspension has… Read More
Grain prices were all higher this week and ended with a WASDE report on Friday that the market read as bullish, even though the numbers didn’t fully imply that. Does the market just not believe the numbers, or perhaps it feels more cuts are on the way? Either way, weather is creating fairly volatile trading… Read More
PRIDE Seeds and CANTERRA Seeds have announced a distribution agreement that brings the PRIDE Seeds portfolio of hybrid seed corn and soybean seed to CANTERRA Seeds dealers across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Stephen Denys, vice president of sales and marketing with PRIDE Seeds, says that research into earlier maturing seed corn hybrids and soybean varieties… Read More
White mould is a fungus caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and tends to cause a bleached area of the stem, with black oblong sclerotia developing in the centre of the affected area, and inside the stem. But, we don’t want it to get that far. Enter fungicides. “The number one problem that growers have in timing fungicides is… Read More
DuPont Pioneer held a grand opening for the company’s new corn hybrid research centre near Lethbridge, Alberta on Wednesday. The 22,500 sq. foot facility is part of the company’s larger five-year, $35 million investment in research and development in Western Canada. As DuPont Pioneer Canada president Bryce Eger explains in the video below, the company… Read More
Haying conditions, new funding for wheat breeding, the International Rapeseed Congress (aka “the Canola Olympics”) and more — here’s this week’s ag news podcast: Sign-up for RealAg’s free email ag news here! Subscribe: iTunes | Android | RSS
Soybean growers could soon have access to a new tool for weed control as plans are in place to introduce varieties that are tolerant to both dicamba and glyphosate to North America in the next year or two. Dicamba tolerance will be valuable in giving farmers the ability to use multiple modes of action for weed control, particularly in… Read More