A confluence of weather events came together in some Midwestern States last week which is causing emotional, physical and financial devastation. A weather ‘cyclone bomb’ with barometric lows most often seen in hurricanes, exploded over a large swath of the U. S. bringing rain, onto snow covered, frozen ground which could not absorb the moisture… Read More
Remember when Goose dies in Top Gun? Of course you do. Maverick and Goose were following Iceman as his wingman and got caught in the jet wash, ultimately spinning out to sea and then ejecting from the aircraft but meeting an untimely end. To bring the analogy home, Canada is closely following the U.S., in… Read More
Flipping the calendar at this time of year is less about leaving something behind and more about looking ahead — in this case, it’s on to planting and seeding. For areas of the southern U.S., time is already ticking and wet conditions are holding back planting, even while farmers in Ontario and parts of the… Read More
Richardson International has completed its purchase of Wesson, a purchase originally announced last year. The deal, made December 18, 2018, closed as of February 25, 2019, as all the regulatory and other closing requirements were made. According to the new release, Richardson will acquire the Wesson production facility located at Memphis, Tennessee, which will expand… Read More
In August of last year Art Shaap’s life and livelihood changed in a heart beat. It was then that the owner of Highland Dairy in Clovis, New Mexico, started dumping 15,000 gallons of milk each day because his animals and seven of his 13 wells had been contaminated with runoff from the nearby Cannon Air… Read More
The news Corteva Agriscience, agriculture division of DowDuPont, has acquired the Clearfield canola production system from BASF in both Canada and the United States. Clearfield canola is a non-genetically modified herbicide tolerance (HT) system, consisting of a herbicide tolerance trait and Imidazolinone (IMI) herbicides, sold in Canada primarily under the brand Ares. The financial terms… Read More
The U.S. government shutdown meant grain markets missed out on a few months of WASDE reports. With a return to at least some capacity, the USDA released a much-anticipated WASDE on Friday. To run through what few surprises were included in the latest report, RealAg Radio host Shaun Haney calls on Ted Seifried, vice president and… Read More
President Donald Trump is set to increase U.S. tariffs to 25 per cent from the current 10 per cent on roughly $200 billion worth of Chinese imported goods if there’s no trade deal in place by one minute passed midnight, March 2. Although just this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would be… Read More
Why do U.S. farmers support President Donald Trump so much? It’s the most common question I get from the audience following a keynote. At one time, I thought the answer would evolve along with his support based on trade and ethanol policies. I was wrong, and I am totally willing to admit it. Previously, just… Read More
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has unveiled its GMO labeling law laying out the minimum labeling requirements for food companies and retailers set to go into effect at the start of 2020, with a mandatory compliance date set for the beginning of 2022. As part of the standard, the USDA has created a… Read More
There’s no understating just how significant the loss of Canadian pulse exports to India has been this past year. Carl Potts, executive director of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, says that the organization’s budget — directly funded through a value-based levy — fell short by nearly 40%. It shows just how dire the situation has been… Read More
Although Agribition has come and gone, there’s still much talk around town about Jim Reeves, the the Texas longhorn steer that graced the show for the first time in 2018. Owner Kris Johnson says about the longhorns: “They’re a very very docile breed, which is what’s so special about Jim Reeves, he’s a big massive… Read More
After several months of trade war escalation between the U.S. and China, a temporary truce has been reached, following Saturday’s presidential meeting between between the countries’ leaders. Giving themselves 90 days to negotiate some solutions to over a hundred issues, the U.S. trade team led by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will attempt to force… Read More
In an open letter to the prime minister, Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) are calling for Justin Trudeau not to sign the United-States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement (USMCA). The group states the USMCA will create further harm to the Canadian dairy sector. Adding that the trade document still contains, “provisions that would grant the U.S. oversight into the administration of… Read More
The federal government has made it very clear that it expects Canadian agriculture to grow, scale-up, and increase production — for both domestic and international markets. China is a key destination for several Canadian commodities, and a trade mission this week is yielding some very positive results. Last week, Canada sent four high-level ministers to… Read More