In our country, referendums are rare, and not for the faint of heart. Remember the Quebec separation referendums back in the 1990s? They nearly tore the country apart. It’s a different story in Switzerland, which like us, is an agricultural nation. Here, referendums — like the one on food security that concluded on Sunday —… Read More
Sometimes it’s hard to get more than a few days for a vacation, no matter where you’re going. Take our recent vacation to Newfoundland, for example. We had only four days available at the tail end of my wife’s conference in St. John’s, but we were determined to see the western part of the province… Read More
If you’re a hockey fan, you had to be excited and inspired by the support Nashville showed for its Predators through the playoffs, whether you liked the team or not. The buzz downtown was fantastic. I can only imagine those images will draw even more tourists to Music City than the record numbers that have… Read More
I often think that when we discuss precision agriculture we tend to naturally focus on large broadacre-style farming across the U.S. Midwest corn belt, Ontario, and the western Canadian prairies. We don’t seem to talk about how precision agriculture technology could create a difference in small-holder agriculture. Clearly, auto-steer is not something you must have when… Read More
DuPont Pioneer and RealAgriculture have teamed up to offer a lucky farm a chance to win an AgVenture to Hawaii! In celebration of Acapela — a fungicide that delivers more coverage, protection, and plant performance benefits for greener, healthier plants — DuPont Pioneer is offering one grand prize, including airfare, seven nights accommodation, and a tour of… Read More
Grain markets headed into the Easter holiday weekend on a bit more volatility, helping most futures stay in the green. Oats were the big winner, rebounding up 4.15% since last Friday, closely followed by 3.5% and 3.15% by soymeal and corn respectively. The U.S. dollar was the big loser of the week, down 0.6%, which supported… Read More
Globally, the big question in food production – the one that reverberates in any discussion about the future – is who will feed the increasingly hungry world, and how. Most of the focus is on Africa, and the growing population there. So the question goes: Who will feed Africa? Well, after spending two weeks with… Read More
[GREAT EXUMA, THE BAHAMAS] – Farmers everywhere – including the Bahamas — used to get in and out of pigs relatively quickly. It’s not really like that anymore, as farming has become more sophisticated. But back then, when prices went up, herds grew quickly. When prices went down, herds shrunk about as fast. And so… Read More
Shaun Haney is in Germany this week as a guest of Bayer, celebrating 20 years of the company’s InVigor brand. The world is big place, sure, but when it comes to agriculture, it’s actually quite small. As people move up the ladder within companies, they frequently get to spend time in other countries to build experience. … Read More
Shaun Haney is in Germany this week as a guest of Bayer, celebrating 20 years of the company’s Invigor brand. This morning, I visited the BayKomm site in Leverkusen, Germany. The beautiful glass building holds not only some historical pieces from Bayer’s past but also a connection to the difference science makes on our daily… Read More
Shaun Haney is in Germany this week as a guest of Bayer, celebrating 20 years of the company’s Invigor brand. During the Bayer InVigor 20th anniversary party we heard an address by Liam Condon, Bayer Crop Science CEO. He was fresh off a flight from Chicago where he was working on the acquisition of Monsanto…. Read More
Through the years, Cuban farmers – or at least those whose families didn’t have their farm estates or agri-businesses seized when Fidel Castro came into power — have been living in a bubble. They’ve been loyal subjects to their political leader, the long-time dictator who died last week, almost six months after his 90th birthday…. Read More
World anything Day is a lot to take in. You’d think it might be easier to digest when a designated day for something global was also for something so familiar as food. But I didn’t sense that with World Food Day, which arrived and passed Sunday without much fanfare, at least in North America. Why’s… Read More
The chips are down for milk producers in Europe, who are struggling to hang on as the continent deals with another milk glut. The European Union dropped its quota on milk production last year. When that happened, dairy producers upped their production. Now, Europe is swimming in the stuff. Farmers say they’re getting about 10… Read More
The gene gun, the first of which literally used a .22-calibre bullet, was invented by plant geneticists working at Cornell University in the 1980s as a way of injecting DNA into plant cells. The technology made the process of introducing new genetic material to many major crops, including corn and wheat, much more efficient, helping to create plants with resistance… Read More