Need to find a booth at FarmTech and don’t know where it is? Want to ensure you don’t miss a concurrent session? Want to message Rick Taillieu to thank him for doing such a great job organizing FarmTech? There’s a (FarmTech) app for that! See a preview of some FarmTech speakers here Registered delegates will… Read More
Herbicide resistant weeds are one of the struggles and items of adversity that farmers face around the world. Whether you plant in Australia, United States of Canada there is likely to be a weed in your area that carries resistance and is impacting your ability to achieve top yields. HAVE YOU REGISTERED YET FOR FARMTECH… Read More
Ever heard someone say that you are what you eat. The old adage “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” has never rung more true. Ever spend the whole growing season in the seat of the tractor and say to yourself, “man I wish I could eat the right way.” Check out Mairlyn… Read More
Starting and participating in ag and food conversations can be difficult and intimidating. Misrepresentation of industry in the media (Chipotle, Panera Bread and A&W), issues like mad cow disease, avian flu virus, and the XL food scandal, not to mention the controversies around genetically modified foods make for a very complex conversation terrain. Follow Cami… Read More
If you haven’t yet registered for FarmTech, Rick Taillieu would like you to soon, because the event will likely sell out and you don’t want to miss this conference. Held at Edmonton’s Expo Centre and running from January 28 to 30, 2014, FarmTech features over 60 concurrent speakers, and you won’t want to miss the… Read More
As the growing season winds down, it’s time to think about the best parts of winter — planning for next season and conferences! (My version of “best” my differ from yours). One of the highlights of the conference season has to be FarmTech, where farmers are challenged to evaluate their current production practices and, perhaps,… Read More
How high can wheat yields go? Is 150 bushels an acre achievable, and, if so, how do we get there? That’s the question we asked several farmers at this year’s FarmTech conference. The answers are evenly split between yes, no and yes, but only if fill-in-the-blank happens. It would seem it’s that fill-in-the-blank part that… Read More
We use our phones for so much more than talking and texting — from tracking markets and weather, to finding and sharing information, to just killing time with some entertainment. There are a seemingly infinite number of apps out there, and more are developed each week. How do you decide which are worth it? This… Read More
Let’s just call 2013 the year of the soybean in Western Canada and be done with it, OK? It would seem each of the Prairie Provinces has fallen in love with the crop and, if the spring weather permits, there will be a large increase in acres this year. But should there be? There are… Read More
As farmers scratch out last minute changes to seeding plans, economic factors always weigh in. Pulses, like red and green lentils or peas, all have the advantage of nitrogen fixation, making them an attractive crop rotation choice. But pulses are also smaller acreage crops and the marketing dynamics of each crop type can cause some… Read More
If there’s two things I learned from the GIJOE cartoons in the eighties it’s that 1) GIJOE must have a strict catch and release policy because I don’t recall any members of COBRA being killed and they come back every week. 2) Knowing is half the battle!(they said it at the end of every episode)… Read More
Canola is big business in Alberta, so the spread of canola diseases like blackleg, clubroot and most recently, aster yellows is taken very seriously by both industry and producers. How those diseases are transmitted and spread becomes a source of discussion and speculation as well. At this point it becomes incredibly important to separate fact… Read More
There is a proverb that says “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Never is this more true than at the field level, nestled deep in the crop canopy, where beneficial insects are hard at work killing and eating crop pests. The tricky part, however, is that these beneficial insects can look a whole… Read More
No doubt many farmers, if asked, would tell you that it’s the lifestyle that drew them to farming. That group would also tell you that you have to work hard in order to keep that lifestyle. That means treating your farm like any other business which means long hours away from the family at times,… Read More
High land prices got you down? Does $3,000 an acre just seem to darn high? Well there’s no doubt that land prices have climbed significantly in recent years, a little history lesson teaches us that when combined with very low interest rates and high commodity prices land is not priced outlandishly. Alberta Agriculture’s Merle Good… Read More