Michael Raine

In Canada this year, cash receipts from all agricultural harvests will deliver $35 billion into the economy, an amount nearly equal to Cuba’s gross national product. Harvests will support hundreds of thousands of farmers directly on about 240,000 farms and millions of Canadians indirectly in support, processing, transportation and distribution industries. They will also feed […] Read more

Winter wheat seedlings make a tasty snack for mature grasshoppers looking for a fall meal. As a result, producers looking to plant their winter wheat or fall rye crops this week or next should be concerned about the potential losses. In Montana and South Dakota, where the grasshopper infestation is as serious as that of […] Read more

Flax is finding a home in livestock feed as its ability to add desirable omega 3 fatty acids to meat, milk and eggs awakens the imaginations of the marketplace. Omega 3 fatty acids are known to reduce cholesterol levels in humans. “The market for designer foods is really beginning to take off and flax is […] Read more

Aug. 22 is not the time to be pulling cows and calves from summer pasture, but members of the Rocky Mountain House Provincial Grazing Reserve had no choice this year as they got together at their pasture’s gathering station. “Heck, it’s a month better than last year,” said cattle producer Bob Aasman of Rocky Mountain […] Read more

MARENGO, Sask. – His cancer came back for a second year, but despite knowing it would be a challenging season, grain farmers Joanne and Dean Anderson of Marengo were up for the fight and chose to seed their 1,600 acres. They didn’t know it yet, but their neighbours were already planning to lighten the couple’s […] Read more

Prairie farmers are expected to seed about 440,000 acres of winter wheat in the next three weeks as more producers are attracted by the crop’s good yield potential and improved varieties. About 420,000 acres of the crop have just been harvested and results generally look good. Although price, which in the past rarely surpassed No. […] Read more

ECKVILLE, Alta. – Bunny and Stuart Caton carried on a tradition last weekend that has been in their family for 100 years – farming at Eckville. It’s a matter of family and a matter of survival. “There are easier ways to make a living. Ways where you get time off and more recreational time with […] Read more

Grasshoppers attacked crops, paint on barns and a lot of other targets during waves of hatchings. A Calgary flour mill was shut down to clean out tiny insects that strayed in from local fields. Snow shovels were used to remove seed bugs from a Medicine Hat, Alta., shopping mall. Diamondback moths across the West were […] Read more

The biggest scientific project in more than 30 years is taking place at the University of Saskatchewan and when it’s complete, it is expected to create a wave of agricultural research in Canada that includes livestock applications. Imagine swinging a steel yo-yo above your head faster and faster, until it almost catches up with itself […] Read more