It was only ten years ago that Wade Barnes and Curtis MacKinnon, two agronomists in the Pilot Mound, Man. area, decided to start an agronomic consulting business for local farmers. “Our focus was to deal with the handful of really good clients in our local community, about 25 thousand acres. Our thoughts were we’d get to… Read More
Category: Western Canada
Grain prices ended the week lower with rains arriving in some major growing regions. The market’s main focus now is on where rain is falling, and in what quantities, specifically eyeing Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, & Iowa where a fair amount of acres still have to go in. SovEcon recently raised their expectations for the Russian crop to… Read More
Rain doesn’t just make grain, it makes beef too, and much of Saskatchewan and Alberta is in desperate need of moisture to support the cattle out on grass. In this episode of the almost-in-person Beef Market Update, Anne Wasko, of Gateway Livestock, and Shaun Haney, of RealAgriculture, cover some serious ground, from the possible repealing… Read More
The Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame has unveiled its slate of inductees for this year. Dr. Ron DePauw, the Hon. Grant Devine, the late E. Ward Jones, Anthony von Mandl and the late Ovila Lebel will be formally inducted into the national Hall of Fame on November 22, 2015 in Regina, Saskatchewan. “The five inductees… Read More
As the wind and sun beat across the land, there is little we can do but let hope outweigh worry. And that’s what we hear now, as the people on the land dance around the dreaded ‘d’ word — drought — knowing it’s not yet too late. Because, beside the cracks that spread through the soil, there… Read More
Now that Verticillium longisporum has been found in Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is working on getting a handle on the distribution of the new disease threat to canola. The verticillium wilt pathogen, which has caused significant economic losses in Europe’s rapeseed crop, was found in a canola trial plot at an undisclosed research location in… Read More
The Canadian Sheep Federation (CSF) will combine sheep and lamb production assurance systems under the nationally recognized Food Safe Farm Practices (FSFP) thanks to nearly $350,000 in funding under the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s AgriMarketing Program funded by Growing Forward 2. This support will allow the Canadian Sheep Federation to integrate the National Sheep Biosecurity… Read More
The focus on new global trade deals seems to be sparking some interesting talks domestically, let alone internationally. And so they should. How can we, as an export nation, expect much from better global access when we don’t have our own house in order? The latest development is a missive from each of the province’s… Read More
The soil beneath our feet is teeming with organisms, each with an incredibly important role in the pedosphere. Among the organisms is a group commonly referred to as earthworms (from the phylum Annelida). (video on earthworm scouting is at the end of this post) Invaders Though a few species are said to remain from the last… Read More
A new logo for 4-H, ongoing dryness in the West, U.S. legislators vote to repeal COOL — there’s plenty to catch up on in this week’s TWORA update: Stay on top of what’s happening in Canadian agriculture — TWORA is recorded and posted on RealAg and iTunes every Thursday!