The federal government is spending nearly $280,000 to fund the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) to lead the International Phase of the Quality AgriWorkforce Management Program. This project, funded through the Canadian Agricultural Adaptation Program, is designed to clarify best practices for recruiting and retaining international workers. CAHRC’s activities will involve developing and delivering communications… Read More
Statistics Canada, it would appear, knows you don’t really want to talk to them. The government agency is sharing news of its AG-Zero project — an initiative that seeks to move phone and other surveys from first to somewhere else down the list of information gathering. “We’re working to produce comprehensive, relevant, and integrated farm… Read More
Just forty or fifty years ago, weed control strategies and options differed greatly from what farmers have to deliberate between today. With a heavy reliance on tillage, physically destroying weeds took a heavy toll on soil moisture reserves and soil structure, leading to issues with salinity and erosion. Today’s western Canadian farmers have moved en… Read More
Improvement of soil moisture conditions were not widespread as some would like it to be, but the good news is there was increased precipitation for much of Western Canada, according to the latest report via the Canadian Drought Monitor. Looking at the latest report (see below), producers will see a big change in southern Saskatchewan… Read More
One thing that is becoming very clear at the agronomy meetings this fall is that, when it comes to clubroot, the maps are changing and not in a good way. Bruce Gossen, plant pathologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), gave a presentation on clubroot at the Canola Industry Days held at Saskatoon recently. He… Read More
Many farmers and seed industry members have come to realize that business-as-usual will not be a business at all unless some changes are made to the way plant breeding is funded in this country. Everyone recognizes that most of the money that goes into plant breeding goes into just a few crops through private investment,… Read More
Nature is pretty amazing, but that wonder and adaptability can translate to a huge problem in a crop. Wireworms, for example, can determine they don’t like what is on the menu when you seed your crop in the spring, wait until the following spring, and attack a more vulnerable crop instead. What’s more, they can… Read More
The news Lawrence MacAulay, Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food has announced a federal investment of up to $5 million to the Automation Cluster led by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre Inc. The funding is provided under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. The funding will be used to address current and anticipated labour challenges within the greenhouse… Read More
In any industry, you can go backwards by merely standing still. In research, even something as traditional as wheat research, the same is true. You have to keep moving forward or other players will pass you and your innovations will be obsolete before they even get out of the laboratory. Luckily for Canadian farmers, there… Read More
Wheat midge is still a significant threat to wheat in Western Canada. While the threat has subsided a bit because of the discovery and use of the SM1 resistance gene, it’s important to remember that there is only one bullet in the chamber, and if it gets spent wheat crops will be, once again, at… Read More
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC) has, until now, never developed an app. Until now, that is, with the launch of a new app called CAM. The Cereal Aphid Manager (CAM) is the first app ever developed by AAFC. Dale Leftwich, RealAgriculture’s Saskatchewan field editor, met with Tyler Wist, field crop entomology research scientist with AAFC,… Read More
The federal government is investing up to $12.1 million over the next five years in a new canola research cluster under the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay announced the funding at the Bruce D. Campbell Farm & Food Discovery Centre south of Winnipeg on Tuesday morning. Provincial canola grower groups — Alberta Canola,… Read More
While most canola producers in western Canada are still keeping an eye out for wireworms and cutworms, there are more reasons to scout on the horizon. Those reasons? Cabbage seedpod weevils and lygus bugs. For each species, there are a series of factors that might influence the susceptibility of a given canola crop to infestation…. Read More
Satellites are helping depict a clearer picture (literally) of what Canadian farmers grow each year. Accurately predicting and measuring production of each crop grown in Canada has been an ongoing quest for the grain industry and government agencies since farming began in North America. Or at least since the start of the 20th century when E.Cora… Read More
Canadian farm income hit a record high in 2015, and is expected to drop slightly in 2016, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The impact of a weaker Canadian dollar supporting domestic prices is evident throughout the department’s 2016 Canadian Agricultural Outlook, which was published on Friday. Here are some highlights: Net cash income on Canadian farms is estimated to… Read More