Michael Raine

Farmers who were sold the wrong variety of durum seed say the industry must make changes to prevent more serious mixups from happening in the future. More than 300 southwestern Saskatchewan farmers were sold AC Morse instead of AC Avonlea in 2000 because of a labelling error by an Alberta seed grower. Ray Peterson of […] Read more

Western Canada’s grasshopper forecast contains a warning for farmers. For producers in high-risk areas and where the populations were greatest last year, the chances of reaching economic thresholds that make it pay to spray are nearly certain. Agriculture Canada scientist Dan Johnson from Lethbridge, Alta., wrote the forecast after collecting data gathered last August by […] Read more

Fears of grasshoppers that have locust, or swarming, tendencies are nothing more than worried imaginings. Late last summer grasshoppers that looked like locusts were discovered in the region between Edmonton and the Saskatchewan border. Dan Johnson, an entomologist at Agriculture Canada’s research centre in Lethbridge, Alta., said there are no locusts in Western Canada, so […] Read more

Despite a nearly 70 percent decrease in prices for white-tailed deer, the industry says it is not only surviving but profiting from the experience. Ron Friesen raises deer near Warman, just outside of Saskatoon. He is president of the Saskatchewan Whitetail and Mule Deer Producers Association and represents 113 producers with a combined inventory of […] Read more

When it comes to animal welfare, Canadian livestock producers are at a disadvantage. David Fraser, a University of British Columbia professor, said European governments fund enforcement of regulations and provide assistance to producers for research. In United States, he said the government has a strong central control and research body – the U.S. Department of […] Read more

Willard Estey, the retired Supreme Court justice who was hired by the federal government in 1997 to review Canada’s grain handling and rail transportation system, has died at age 82. In 1998, he recommended numerous changes to the system, most of which are still hotly debated by industry players and elected officials. Estey concluded that […] Read more

BEAVER MINES, Alta. – Keith and Bev Everts didn’t eat meat before they became ranchers. Today they, along with their neighbours, grow and market some of the most sought-after beef in Canada. The Everts produce organic cattle on their 4,500 acres of range and irrigated cropland on the eastern slopes of the Border Range of […] Read more

Debate over genetically modified wheat, like its development, soldiers on. Farmers attending the Saskatchewan Seed Growers Association annual meeting, held Jan. 8 during Crop Production Week in Saskatoon, found lots of reasons to oppose growing GM wheat in Canada. Two thirds of Canada’s grain customers don’t want it. Producers question its potential economic benefits. It […] Read more

Researchers are investigating whether farmers can reduce canola seeding rates but still get good yields. They have long observed that canola plants grow taller and set more branches if not crowded. Disease might also be reduced if there is room for air to circulate, they speculate. They’ve experimented with reduced seeding rates to see if […] Read more

Crop yields are the result of a complex interaction understood best by the farmer with intimate knowledge of his land, not the simple application of nutrients and pesticides. Most farmers know this in their hearts, but a deluge of advertising from input manufacturers and advice from agrologists can cloud the issue, said Don Flaten, soil […] Read more