Chuck Penner has had a soft spot for the much-maligned flax crop ever since he was a child growing up on the family farm in Manitoba’s Red River Valley. “It was the most fun crop to grow,” he told delegates attending CropSphere 2019. “Farmers curse the straw, but as a kid, as a pyromaniac kid, […] Read more
Flax
Significant jump not expected as flax prices remain stable
Chinese eye building prairie flax crushers
Industry notices strong interest in China, but recent political tensions between the two countries may get in the way
Wayne Thompson had some good news to share with flax growers after years of declining acreage and production. Two recent trade missions to China have left him with the impression that there is considerable interest from Chinese buyers in investing in value-added processing in Canada. Ming Hai recently opened a crush plant south of Saskatoon […] Read moreCaution urged when buying pedigreed seed
Pedigree seed tested in Saskatchewan so far this winter has a relatively high quality, but that doesn’t mean growers shouldn’t use caution when sourcing their seed. Jason Danielson of Discovery Seed Lab said compared to previous years the durum seed stock looks good, while growers should be cautious when sourcing oats and legumes. “Germs and […] Read more
Time to get tough with rotations?
Ian Boxall says it’s time for producers and the canola industry to do something about clubroot. “Clubroot could be the biggest thing to happen in Saskatchewan. Loss of an industry? I don’t know what the word is,” said Boxall, who farms near Tisdale, Sask. Clubroot, a soil borne disease, is not just a threat to […] Read more
Seed Synergy’s back story explained
By now, many farmers have heard about an ominous drive, co-ordinated by elements of Canada’s seed industry and financially aided by our federal government, that is attempting to eliminate our right to freely save and reuse our own seed. This story actually begins in 1990 when the Canadian government adopted the UPOV ’78 model law […] Read more
Farm groups lobby for carbon offset
Now is the ideal time to be lobbying the federal government for a carbon offset program for agriculture, says a canola industry official. Tracy Broughton, policy and producer relations manager with SaskCanola, is the point person for a group of provincial commissions and other farm organizations on the carbon tax issue. She recently returned from […] Read more
Crop production cost estimates now available
If you like cropping budget calculations, check out Guidelines for Estimating Crop Production Costs 2019 in Manitoba. It’s freshly posted on Manitoba Agriculture’s website. The publication includes a great deal of detail, even going so far as to estimate fuel use with assumptions for the number of field operations and the consumption of fuel per […] Read more
VIDEO: Flax acreage expected to grow slightly, price mostly stable – analyst
Chuck Penner, analyst with LeftField Commodity Research, anticipates more of the same in the flax market, which isn’t bad. You can find all our coverage of Crop Production week 2019 here
Grain prices compare favourably to last year
There’s a general impression that grain prices are weak and unimpressive, but comparing prices to those of one year ago paints a different picture. Most commodity prices are better as we start 2019. The Saskatchewan agriculture ministry publishes market trends on its website at saskatchewan.ca/agriculture with information sourced from various grain companies, the Price and […] Read more
Sask. clears path for smoother agricultural program funding
Saskatchewan has eased the application process for some of its strategic initiatives under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership after a deluge of applications in the final months of Growing Forward 2. Richelle Bourgoin, executive director of the agriculture ministry’s programs branch, said there were, for example, about 7,750 applications under GF2 for the Farm and Ranch […] Read more
