I had the great pleasure of joining the Manitoba Canola Growers Association for its second Canola Leaders event held November 29 and 30, 2013, at Brandon, Manitoba. About 20 young farmers participated in two days of fun, networking and learning, with a heavy emphasis on the importance of food, understanding consumers, learning leadership skills and… Read More
Tag: Lyndsey Smith
I’ve got to tell you, this week has been a bit of a marathon, maybe only a little bit because it started off in the rosy afterglow of a Rider win in the 101st Grey Cup championship (sorry Ti-Cat fans!). That, and we were everywhere this week. Everywhere! The RealAgriculture team was in Banff for… Read More
What’s your process for tracking what you do in each field? Most farmers have some combination of pen and paper, app, Excel documents and more for recording the activities carried out in each field. But what process do you have in place for diagnostics? For tracking what you’ve noticed, the possible causes, the decided-upon cause… Read More
I’d say I’m more of a proactive than reactive person, but there are most certainly times when circumstances simply require us to react. Last week, Heinz announced the closure of its Leamington-based tomato processing plant, and 40% of the Ontario processing tomato industry evaporated. The reasons it happened and the fallout to both the town,… Read More
Seed labs, the services they offer and the role they play in crop production is changing. Within the year, changes to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will shift certain roles and responsibilities to the private sector. Crop inspection services and some analytical services will move outside of the CFIA and seed testing labs are… Read More
There are a couple things, as someone who writes in the public domain, I don’t ever really want to meddle in. Religion is likely at the top of that list, and I want to make it very clear that this column is not about religion at all. It’s about misinformation that just so happens this… Read More
After skipping the October update due to the U.S. government shutdown, this morning’s USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report was much anticipated by traders and farmers alike. While bearish news abounded ahead of the report, especially on the corn side, many were hoping that added yield would be balanced by decreased acres… Read More
If you’ve spent any amount of time with me, you’ll likely catch on to two things: One, I really, really like coffee, and, two, I’m a total agronomy nut. In university, I originally intended to pursue some sort of livestock-based arc of study. I took one crop production class and was hooked. Plants fascinate me… Read More
Well, it’s official. The busy winter conference season is upon us, and I, for one, couldn’t be happier. This week, the RealAgriculture.com team took in Agri-Trade at Red Deer, Alta., and the first-ever Cereals North America conference. Also on this week was the Royal in Toronto, and though we didn’t make it there, we did… Read More
It seems whenever a new disease or pest rears its head, the old wives tales and myths follow closely on its heels. Take, for example, the advent of clubroot being found in Alberta about 10 years ago. Never fear, said many in the more eastern parts of the prairies, our high pH western Canadian soils… Read More