For a company that proclaims its loyalty to Canadian ranchers on the back and sides of its transport trucks, navigating a foray into the plant-based market is going to be somewhat tricky. McDonald’s marketing director Jean-Guillaume Bertola fully understands that the company has to strike a balance between adapting menus based on changing consumer preferences,… Read More
Data collected between 2008 and 2015 by Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp suggests many farmers in the province are using tight rotations, or no rotation at all (coyly referred to as a “canola-snow” rotation). “The tight rotations that we are talking about — canola, wheat, canola, wheat — are in the northeast of the province and… Read More
The last of the major Prairie crop conferences — the CropConnect Conference — was held at Winnipeg, Man., this week, with a sold-out crowd braving some quintessential Manitoba farm show season weather to hear from several dozen speakers, and discuss opportunities and plans for 2020. Here are some of the takeaways from the two-day event:… Read More
Väderstad’s new planter offering enables operators to fill one large 3,000 L seed hopper, rather than each row unit, increasing both productivity and capacity. “It’s our new system for pressurized seed metres,” says Väderstad’s Lars Thylen, “where we have a central fill function…for all seeds, including small seeds like canola, sugar beets, but also normal… Read More
Canada’s current bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) status, as defined by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), is “controlled risk.” Canada was eligible to apply to downgrade its risk status last summer; however, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it’s on track to submit for “negligible risk” status by July of this year. “The U.S…. Read More
Five Manitoba farm groups have voted in favour of amalgamating into one entity known as the Manitoba Crop Alliance. Farmer members of the Manitoba Corn Growers Association (MCGA), Manitoba Flax Growers Association (MFGA), National Sunflower Association of Canada (NSAC), Winter Cereals Manitoba, Inc. (WCMI), and the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association (MWBGA) passed a… Read More
Protesters standing in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en First Nation’s protest of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project have set up blockades in three provinces — Ontario, B.C., and now Manitoba — significantly impacting rail movement and precipitating CN Rail to cancel hundreds of train movements. Many in the agriculture industry are nervous about what this means for… Read More
What are your first thoughts when you wake up in the morning? Motivational speaker, author, and entrepreneur Darci Lang advocates for positivity. “Focus on the 90 per cent, is my message. [It’s] my belief that we all hold this big magnifying glass out in front of us in our lives, and we have a choice… Read More
The federal agriculture minister isn’t ruling out the introduction of additional measures aimed at softening the financial impact of the federal carbon tax on farmers across the country. Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has repeatedly said she’s looking for more data outlining how the carbon tax is affecting farm profitability. Depending on those numbers, she told reporters… Read More
Two projects aimed at reducing risk for exporters and improving the sustainability claim of Canadian grain are moving forward with announced federal funding of $1.2 million. The projects are headed up by the Canada Grains Council. More than $430,000 will be used to develop a pilot insurance product for grain exporters to address the risks… Read More
While the promise of futuristic agricultural technologies is alluring, many are heavily reliant on connectivity. “There’s just one piece missing — the actual ability to provide that connectivity,” says RealAgriculture’s Shaun Haney. Over the course of his time at Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany, Haney covered a lot of ground, interviewing on some of the latest… Read More
The China-U.S. mega trade deal promising big things for ag product sales has seen some of its momentum lost to the coronavirus outbreak. “It makes things way more complicated,” says Don Close, a senior analyst at RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness. “As soon as that agreement was signed, U.S. markets started to sell off, and have… Read More
Fliegl’s new trailing shoe slurry discharge outlet is promising to reduce forage contamination, increase efficiency of manure spreading, and lower the loss rate of ammonium nitrogen. “It’s an innovative product because we don’t use a macerator within the system,” says Fliegl’s Nick Dale. “The macerator is a very expensive option to run.” RealAgriculture’s coverage of… Read More
With multiple wet harvest years in central and northern Alberta, many producers have invested in a grain dryer, or are certainly looking into it. Scott Keller, a farmer from near New Norway, Alta., recently dug in to the numbers surrounding the cost and benefits of owning a grain dryer. Keller first set up a grain… Read More
Amber Mac is a television and radio host, entrepreneur, author, and speaker. She has keynoted more than 300 events, and moderated sessions with leaders such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, FBI director James Comey, and astronaut Chris Hadfield. In January, Mac spoke alongside Farm Credit Canada’s Marty Seymour, in a presentation on tech innovations. “I… Read More