Robert Arnason

Robert Arnason

Reporter

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Robert Arnason is a reporter with The Western Producer and Glacier Farm Media. Since 2008, he has authored nearly 5,000 articles on anything and everything related to Canadian agriculture. He didn’t grow up on a farm, but Robert spent hundreds of days on his uncle’s cattle and grain farm in Manitoba. Robert started his journalism career in Winnipeg as a freelancer, then worked as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Nipawin, Saskatchewan and Fernie, BC. Robert has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Manitoba and a diploma in LSJF – Long Suffering Jets’ Fan.

Stories by Robert Arnason

Looking upward from the ground through a crop of green durum wheat plants.
Crop Management, Markets, News

Slight increase expected for durum acres

SWIFT CURRENT – Marlene Boersch isn’t buying what Agriculture Canada is selling. In its Outlook for Principal Field Crops, published in January, the department forecast a five per cent drop in durum wheat acres – going from 6.35 million seeded acres in 2024 to 6.05 million this year. Those estimates are too pessimistic, said Boersch, […] Read more
An aerial photo of a crop of peas showing some yellow areas where the crop is diseased.
Crop Management

Some peas already root rot resistant

Researchers need to conduct more field testing to determine which varieties have increased resistance to the disease

WINNIPEG — Tests of field pea varieties conducted this summer in plot trials suggest that some commercial varieties have more genetic resistance to root rot than others. It’s not a huge amount of additional resistance, but some are marginally better. “Based on the field results, it doesn’t look like massive differences, but I think there […] Read more
A hand holds a plastic bottle of No Name canola oil with a lush, green canola crop just starting to bloom in the background.
Markets

Canola oil demand expected to rise

Global supply is tightening as canola and sunflower production drops and palm oil output in Malaysia, Indonesia plateaus

BRANDON — Demand for canola oil looks strong in the short term and the longer term, says a market analyst from Germany. In the 2024-25 crop year, world supplies of sunflower seed and rapeseed (including canola) dropped about 13 million tonnes. Crushing of the two oilseeds will decline this year and palm oil output has […] Read more
Fababeans laying on the ground during harvest.
News

Fababeans could help ease rotation pressure on canola

There has been little export demand, but new, safer varieties are expected to open doors in the domestic food market

BRANDON — In a world with Netflix, YouTube and Skip the Dishes, patience is a lost art. More Canadians want things to happen, easily and immediately. Eric McLean, who farms near Oak River, Man., thinks farmers should avoid the “easy button” approach to crop production. Adding another crop to the canola-cereal rotation may not make […] Read more
Two large rolls of tile drainage tubing sit in a field ready to be installed.
Crop Management, News

Tile drainage seen as good way to boost yields

A South Dakota producer says improved draining not only increases plant health but also keeps nutrients on the field

BRANDON — Brian Hefty came to Manitoba Ag Days on Jan. 22 to give a speech about how to “push the limits” for crop yields. The South Dakota farmer did focus on crop nutrition and why it’s critical for producers to understand the results of a soil test. However, the first 17 minutes of Hefty’s […] Read more
Mike Jubinville, a senior markets analyst with Glacier MarketsFarm, speaks at a Manitoba Ag Days podium.
Crop Management, Markets, News, Tariffs, Video

VIDEO – Manitoba Ag Days: ‘Political manipulations’ hold back canola – analyst

BRANDON — If global politics, tariffs and uncertainty were magically removed from the market, canola prices in Canada would likely be $1.50 per bushel higher, says a veteran markets analyst. The supply and demand fundamentals for canola are supportive of price this winter, but Canadian farmers are facing a situation where geopolitics are dominant and […] Read more
Canola plants in bloom photographed from below looking up to a gray sky.
News, Tariffs

Tariff threat already disrupting ag trade

WINNIPEG — In 2023, Canada shipped $8.6 billion worth of canola products to the United States. The vast majority of that was canola oil and meal, which was valued at $8.3 billion. However, those exports were disrupted in the first couple of weeks of January as canola crushers on the Prairies waited on the possibility […] Read more
A worker wearing blue safety overalls, a hard hat and hearing protection collects a sample of potassium fertilizer from a huge pile of the substance inside a mine's dome-shaped storage area.
Markets, Tariffs

Tariffs could heat up ‘boring’ potash market

ST. JEAN, Man. — The global market for potash is stable and somewhat “boring,” says a market watcher. However, that could change soon if U.S. president Donald Trump imposes tariffs on Canadian potash. Each year, Canada exports about seven million tonnes of potash across the border, supplying about 80 per cent of the demand for […] Read more

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