While most of us started to think about the growing season ahead as soon as this fall’s harvest was over, or actually we never really stopped thinking about the year ahead, the pressure to make solid choices for spring 2019 is now intensifying. Crazy stuff in world markets — driven in part by even-crazier world […] Read more
Flax
It’s next-year country again on the Prairies
Canola growers step in to fund promotion
The Canadian Canola Growers Association will be transferring funds to the Canola Council of Canada so that the council can continue to work on market development and branding in places such as South Korea, Vietnam and other Pacific Rim countries. In December, the council unveiled plans to restructure its operations and reduce its 2019 core […] Read more
Canadian ag falls behind in research and development
When it comes to research and development, Canada lags among advanced nations. That situation also prevails among many of Canada’s export sectors when it comes to trade outside of the United States. Fortunately for farmers, Canada’s agriculture industry and farm organizations are an exception to this situation in both research and development and trade. Our […] Read more
Canola council’s reduced agronomic role vexes farmers
Farmer reaction to changes at the Canola Council of Canada has been mixed. Due to budget cuts the council is reducing its role in agronomy extension, market development and in administration of the Canola Performance Trials. The new direction is the result of a priorities review prompted by the 2018 departure of one of the […] Read more
Richardson not budging on canola council
Richardson International still doesn’t see value in funding the Canola Council of Canada, despite sweeping changes made at the organization. “The value proposition, the cost of membership, (is) not in line with what we (see) as being reasonable or justified,” said Jean-Marc Ruest, Richardson’s senior vice-president of corporate affairs. Richardson pulled its funding from the […] Read more
Intercropping advantage is not just yield
Intercropping has garnered a significant amount of interest in recent years. The jury is still out on whether this practice will grow to be hundreds of thousands or even a million or two acres across Western Canada, but there can be significant advantages to growing two crops together and separating the seeds after harvest. For […] Read more
NFU takes aim at new seed royalty proposal
The National Farmers Union will be hosting an event in Saskatoon tomorrow to express its views on seed royalties. Former NFU president Terry Boehm and Manitoba Regional NFU co-ordinator Ian Robson will speak at the event, to be held at 10 a.m. in the Hilton Garden Inn in Saskatoon. Agriculture Canada recently launched consultations on […] Read more
Harvest 2018 almost a wrap across the Prairies
The harvest window has closed again after rain followed by sub-zero temperatures and snow swept the Prairies Nov. 4-5. However, most crops are now in the bin, thanks to a two-week window of warm, dry conditions opening up in October. After multiple weeks of delay, many producers were able to return to their fields and […] Read more
Alta. offers more funding for hemp processing plant
Researchers and supervisors in charge of Alberta’s innovative yet finicky hemp-processing machine hope new funds will help fix some of its kinks. The fibre-processing plant, located at InnoTech Alberta’s Vegreville facility, will receive provincial funds of $800,000 to fix pinch-points and improve data collection. Billed as state-of-the-art, the 13,000 sq. foot facility can separate the […] Read more
Ag Canada ups canola carryout forecast sharply
Canadian canola carryout stocks at the end of the current marketing year (2018/19) will be considerably larger than an earlier estimate, according to updated supply/demand tables from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, released on Oct. 19. Agriculture Canada’s market analysis branch forecast canola ending stocks for 2018/19 at 2.500 million tonnes, which would be double the […] Read more
