As growers look ahead to seeding, it seems every single cropping option has pricing issues, but there also opportunities to look for. Supply has been a challenge for wheat and corn while soybeans and canola have benefited from strong demand that has assisted in creeping acres higher. READ: 7 Deadly Sins of Grain Marketing Shaun… Read More
Category: AgDays
The Canola Council of Canada is moving on without a core funder for 2018, as Richardson International went public with its withdrawal from the national canola industry group this week. Richardson has said it did not receive enough value to justify its investment in the Canola Council, after pushing for changes to the council over… Read More
It’s been a great start to Manitoba Ag Days, as it celebrates its 41st anniversary. This year, the show features over 550 exhibitors and 63 speakers over 540,000 square feet of show space. But it wasn’t always this size. “The show actually started as a weed fair, and it was…just 38 exhibitors,” says general manager… Read More
Growing farmer interest in planting canola with a planter rather than seeding it with a traditional air drill was evident at Ag Days 2017 in Brandon. The expansion of soybean and corn acres in Western Canada and the Northern Plains is a primary driver, making it easier for canola growers to justify purchasing a planter,… Read More
Count pastured chicken production as another frontier for automation and robotics in agriculture. With demand for pastured chicken rising rapidly, Manitoba farmer Daniel Badiou, through his startup Ukko Robotics, has started manufacturing automated mobile chicken coops. That’s right. They’re basically robots for raising chickens outside. “Every day it will move by itself, and it can all… Read More
Innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech or complicated, as Ron Gramlich of Bashaw, Alta., will attest. Tired of crawling up bins while working at a fertilizer facility, Gramlich created what he’s marketing as the “BinKnocker.” “It’s simply a hockey puck on a rope, with stainless steel brackets fastened to the outside of the bin,” he… Read More
With federal and provincial governments rolling out carbon taxes or cap and trade programs, organizations representing farmers have been forced to choose a strategy they believe will result in the best outcome for their members. Some, such as the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association, are digging in their heels and fighting any carbon tax head-on, similar to… Read More
Do wheat varieties perform in line with the ratings provided during the registration process? When it comes to fusarium head blight tolerance, the short answer is yes, but the long answer is it depends on the year. Holly Derksen, plant pathologist with Manitoba Agriculture, explains that the province has been tracking resistance performance of wheat… Read More
The announcement last week of a $400 million pea processing plant in central Manitoba caught many in the farm community by surprise. “Peas? Don’t you mean soybeans?” was the most common response. By far. With another 20-plus percent increase in soybean acres expected, there will likely be north of two million acres grown on the… Read More
The Canola Council of Canada has started its search for a new president, following the announcement of Patti Miller’s upcoming departure. Canola Council president since 2012, Miller has been appointed chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission, starting February 13. She sat down with us at CropSphere in Saskatoon last week to reflect on her… Read More