At first glance, Patrick Moore resembles more CEO than ecologist, but give him a topic like the opposition to genetically modified crops, and you get all the emotion you’d expect from someone who helped found Greenpeace. Moores involvement with Greenpeace started in the late 1960’s in opposition to nuclear testing and the arms race and… Read More
Category: Tradeshows & Events
As kids we used to laugh about people who bought bottled water. Who would pay for water! How about every nation on the planet. We need water on just about every level imaginable. It is a commodity that affects all other commodities. Droughts hurt crops, poor crops hurt supplies, demand for those supplies, in the… Read More
The Grain Farmers of Ontario held their March Classic conference early this week with a sense of cautious optimism. Most Ontario growers had a great 2010, but echoes of the 2008 season are still lingering with the volatility of commodity prices and the weather situation very much in play. All in all the mood was… Read More
By Jason Stroeve It’s a running joke that while it costs you $55 to $100 dollars a year to get into Costco, it usually costs you at least $200 dollars every time you leave. I like shopping at Costco and apparently so does the rest of the world. If you’re successful at navigating the parking… Read More
By Shaun Haney Its that time of year that we all take a deep breath. Agricultural tradeshow season is over and now its time to get down to the business of farming. This winter I have been across the country at the majority of the major farm shows. Many of the tradeshow booths are the… Read More
“Those dairy farmers print money!” That’s what a friend of mine says every time the subject of dairy farms comes up. Drive down many roads in Canada and it’s easy to see how that perception was born. Huge brand new facilities, multi-site operations with finely manicured yards and milking parlors with nicer tile most people’s… Read More
If you cannot see the embedded video above click here. There are extreme challenges in the grocery store in trying to decipher all the labelling, marketing and propaganda. With the current rise in food prices there has been an increased coverage of what food costs in the mainstream media. Some of the most expensive food… Read More
The standard rule of thumb for polite dinner conversation is never talk religion or politics. When it comes to the topic of biotechnology and GMO crops, it may be a good idea to make another addition to that list. Depending on who you talk to the opinions can range from ” those companies are raising… Read More
When agricultural commodity prices rise there are expected effects. Costs like fertilizer prices and machinery costs are always natural to rise in a rising commodity market. One of the costs that has not been discussed much is rising farmland rent costs. Ontario has some of the highest land rent rates in Canada for the major… Read More
I love cool marketing that thinks a little differently and gets creative. One of my favorites this winter has been the Halex GT robots that pick weeds out of corn fields. With precision accuracy the robot inspects the weeds from the field and minimizes adverse crop competition for the corn plant. At the London Farm Show… Read More
GPS has become a major component of in-tractor technology. For many of the applications of GPS, once you have them you sometimes wonder how you did certain things before hand. Auto-steer is one of those GPS applications that has received lots of marketing and as time moves on more and more farmers are experiencing the… Read More
Precision agriculture has become a much more popular production management on many farms in Canada. One of the newer precision technologies in the marketplace is precision irrigation. The idea is very similar to other variable rate technologies which allow for the prescription applications of inputs. In this case its about applying water to your crop… Read More
Since early October canola has been the story for many Western Canadian farmers. In the fall some farmers were talking about seeding their whole farm to canola in total disregard for rotations in the quest to maximize profit. Talk of 20-22 million acres of canola was very popular speculation. Turn the clock forward to… Read More
This week in Winnipeg the Canadian Grain Industry gathered to discuss the Canadian grain market. There is always an update from the Canadian Wheat Board and a full line of speakers over the two day event. I spoke with Kelvin Heppner from Golden West Radio about the conference and what were some of the highlights…. Read More
As the cattle industry contemplates the rebuilding of the cow herd, bull selection strategies will become incredibly important to ranchers profitability in the future. Once better known as an art, bull selection is a science now. Gone are the days when an old cowboy could walk out into a pen and say, “I like the… Read More