In the last few years, lentil acres in Canada were on the rise. Farmers across the country planted just over 2.5 million acres of the crop last year. That being said, the expectation this year is that lentil acres will be down about 25% according to some analysts. Apparently, as good as the price for… Read More
With the significant moisture that we are going to carry over into 2011 many farmers are very concerned about disease in their special crops. Specifically lentil disease were the concern at CropWeek 2011 in Saskatoon. Lentils can be a very high reward crop but managing in crop disease is definitely critical in order to get… Read More
Its not only a struggle to decide what to grow but also how to price the crop in this volatile pricing market. With special crops price discovery is an even bigger challenge fro many producers. With the poor growing conditions last year, lentil growers that got the crop off in a timely fashion and got… Read More
When farmers choose varieties one of the most common used criteria is stand ability. Sometimes crops lodge no matte what variety you choose due to late moisture, wind or above average weight of the crop. One of the tools that farmers are including on their combine headers is Flexxifinger crop lifters. At CropWeek 2011 in… Read More
The Triffid flax export issue with Europe was a major story of 2010. All stakeholders in the flax value chain were impacted with great severity. Farmers couldn’t move inventory, prices plummeted, and exporters had cargo in limbo. The finger pointing was intense as everyone searched for the reasons that the previously approved trait had worked… Read More
There are lot of choices for farmers this year which is creating a significant battle for acres, even amongst the special crop acres. Yellow and green peas are not one of the true sexy selections in comparison to canola but are still an option for farmers looking to diversify the rotation. With all the focus… Read More
With the pricing advantages for canola and lentils right now in the prairies, many growers are moving to tighter and tighter crop rotations. These tighter rotations include lentils more often and the exclusion of cereals in a canola lentil rotation. This is similar to the exclusion of wheat in corn soybean rotations in Ontario…. Read More
Spring is a very hectic time for farmers. As farmers know there are time on seed restrictions for inoculants. We have all been through the scenario of applying inoculants to your soybeans in the morning and by the afternoon it is pouring rain. As you can imagine this can be very stressful when you use… Read More
Have you ever heard the saying that information is power? Having information at your fingertips when you ned to make very important business decisions is critical to the success of your farm or ag-business. With the increase in crop protection product skews and the introduction of generics into the marketplace, it is more challenging than… Read More
When I was at CropWeek last January lentils were all the rage for farmers. With high prices and increasing acres many people, including myself thought the best thing to do was to forward sell 2010 crop at low 20’s to protect against a bearish market. Throw in a poor spring, a wet harvest and resulting… Read More
During this past winter there was no bigger story in Western Canada than the hysteria around lentils. Saskatchewan is the lentil king in Canada and has also received an abundance of wet weather since early April. The lentil market is known to swing in big ways up and down but seems to be holding relatively… 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
According to Rebecca Krip of Syngenta, farmers are very curious as to what their pulses go and what they are used for when they are exported. Syngenta decide to have some fun with this and held a CropWeek Pulse Fashion Show. The reception for the show was very good. It is very evident that the… Read More
World lentil production appears to have fallen short of world demand for the 2009 / 10 marketing year. This has resulted in strong current prices for lentils and farmers wanting to expand acreages on the farm. At the Pulse Days conference at #cropweek in Saskatoon are excited about the potential of lentils as demand expands… Read More
Dr. Bruce Scherr is the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Informa Economics. He has been with the company since 1987 in several executive capacities including President and CEO. He is based in Memphis, USA. It is definitely no secret that Saskatchewan is increasingly focused on pulses. The pulse meeting was packed packed with… Read More