(Yuma, Arizona) – From the desolate, moonscape-like look of the surroundings here, complete with a never-ending vista of foreboding mountains, scattered rock, tumbleweeds, cacti and dirt devils, it’s hard to imagine this part of the world is popularly called America’s winter salad bowl. But it’s true. Farmers in the vast and sparse extreme southwestern part… Read More
Category: Farm Management
While much of the public conversation has been focused on UPOV ’91 and plant breeders rights, changes are also being made to the federal government’s Advance Payments Program now that Bill C-18 — the Agricultural Growth Act — has become law. The amendments to the Agricultural Marketing Programs Act are supposed to make cash advances… Read More
Each farm has its own advantages that make it viable and competitive. So if you sit down and think about it, what’s one piece of technology that gives you that advantage? Or is there something that another farm is doing that you could implement to make your farm more competitive? Each stop on the TechTour… Read More
A full-court press, led by Canadian mushroom growers, is on to try to stop hundreds of foreign workers specially trained for agriculture jobs in Canada from having to leave. On April 1, a federally mandated rule kicks in that requires them go home if they’ve been here four years. And it’s going to affect the… Read More
In farming, time is often the most scarce resource. Working longer hours isn’t an option. So RealAgriculture.com, together with Dow AgroSciences, are hosting a series of one-day conferences across Western Canada focused on making the most of our time — being as efficient as possible. TechTour Live kicked off in Brandon on Monday, featuring business coach Donald Cooper (of Cooper… Read More
Have you ever heard someone say that today’s business environment is “the new normal”? There is no such thing as the new normal. Most times the “old normal” is the reality in the long run. Remember when corn was $7.50 and canola was $15 and it was a “new normal” in the markets? We’ve recently… Read More
Stephanie Michaud, Trimble Navigations, in conversation with Shaun Haney at NFMS 2015. The display is a 12.1? high-definition color touch-screen, and this year, Trimble announced the TMX-2050 will have the ability to support third party applications. “Today, and within the last week, that’s been our biggest release that we’ve been talking about,” Trimble Navigation’s Stephanie Michaud told… Read More
While tile drainage has been a part of farming in the U.S. Midwest and Ontario for decades, a growing number of producers in Western Canada are finding they can justify the cost of installing tile in their land. Take Craig Shaw for example. Speaking at FarmTech in Edmonton, the Lacombe, Alberta grain farmer gave three reasons… Read More
Whether in the NHL or in farming, successful teams know how to work together and communicate. Having captained the Calgary Flames to the Stanley Cup in 1989, hockey Hall of Famer (and moustache legend) Lanny McDonald has a good idea what it’s like to lead a team that accomplishes its goals. Filmed on the Brandon stop of the… Read More
When’s the last time you sat down and thought critically about who does each job on the farm? I mean REALLY thought about it? Certain roles typically go to certain people within a farm — dad might be the lead combine driver, or always driving the seeder, while sons and daughters may have to work… Read More
Layoffs in the oil industry and supporting sectors are leading people to look for jobs elsewhere, but agricultural employers shouldn’t rely on an influx of available labour, according to the head of an online agriculture job board. Eric Spell of AgCareers says it’s too early to say if low oil prices will help address the labour shortage in the… Read More
It’s an age-old question — which is the best dairy breed? Like most farming questions, the answer is rarely a simple A or B and is more likely to be a qualified “it depends,” but Elliot Currie, with the University of Guelph, headed up a project recently to try and answer the question of which… Read More
Millions of dollars can be spent on marketing, but to build a strong brand, you still need a good product. Having a high-quality product is what helped the Cooper sports equipment brand reach a 70 percent market share in hockey globally and a 30 percent market share in Major League Baseball, explains Donald Cooper, who now… Read More
No matter where you go in the world, farming happens. It can look very different, of course — from state-of-the-art rooftop greenhouses, to expansive, scrub pastures in Australia, to scratching out barely enough to eat from a tiny plot of land in Kenya. If agriculture looks so different, what’s there to learn from seeing how… Read More
Remember seasoned sergeant Phil Esterhaus (actor Michael Conrad) in Hill St. Blues, who warmly but firmly reminded the squad “Let’s be careful out there!” as they filed out of his daily briefing? Well, the same applies to farming – it’s safer than police work, but it certainly has its hazards, not the least of which… Read More