If you’ve been attending agricultural and food conferences over the last decade you’ve likely heard countless references to “feed the 9 billion” or to double production by 2050 to meet the appetite of a growing global population. Is it time we revisited this oft-cited food prediction? Penn State University’s Mitch Hunter thinks so. Hunter and… Read More
Category: Livestock
Let’s get down to the nitty gritty on this week’s top agronomy questions, shall we? Peter Johnson is back for this last January 2018 instalment of Wheat Pete’s Word, and it’s an action-packed episode. Out west, farmers have two main concerns — lack of moisture and lack of moisture. This brings up two questions in this… Read More
Depending on where you live, fields have likely been frozen now for quite some time. Maybe they’re even snow covered. Now is a great time to spread manure because that firm ground means you can travel and not create compaction, the storage is full, and, well, it’ll work its way into the soil later…right? Well,… Read More
With the Canadian trade team agreeing to the Trans Pacific Partnership, there will be opportunities for the opposing parties to bring up issues with the deal. You can expect both the NDP and the Conservatives to use the TPP agreement as political leverage. The Conservatives, who were previously very critical of the Liberals for not… Read More
Tim May says he’s “just a farmer down the road.” But the Rockwood, ON dairy farmer — better known as ‘Farmer Tim’ in the social media world — and his 43 cows are certainly punching above their weight in the fight to help consumers understand what really happens on the farm these days. Three years… Read More
Throughout the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiating rounds, groups like the United States Dairy Export Council have been lobbying for increased market access into Canada. The Americans are looking for the same kind of access that they enjoy with Mexico. This week we saw the signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership… Read More
Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay and Saskatchewan Agriculture Minister Lyle Stewart today announced a $6.3 million commitment to 24 livestock and forage-related research projects and $2 million over two years to the Livestock and Forage Centre of Excellence. Background: Livestock centre of excellence receives $4.5 million from federal gov’t A&W donates $5M to the… Read More
There’s a reason young and beginning farmers often choose to start a sheep enterprise — local demand for lamb is double what we produce, you can keep quite a few sheep on a limited land base, and they’re affordable livestock that reproduce quickly. There’s also a reason that many new sheep farmers don’t last more… Read More
The Canadian government has conceded the same access to the country’s dairy, poultry and egg markets in the new Trans-Pacific Partnership as was agreed to the initial version of the deal in 2015 when the U.S. was still part of the TPP. Canada and the other 10 countries concluded negotiations on Tuesday for the updated… Read More
Do you plant a cover crop before or after you harvest corn silage? It’s an option dairy farmers should consider, says University of Wisconsin Extension crops and soils agronomist Heidi Johnson, especially when planting corn after corn. Removing corn silage and then leaving the ground bare risks soil erosion, decreases microbial activity, and reduces the field’s ability… Read More