Political parties need a strong social media presence because Canadians are in-creasingly getting information on these platforms. In the recent Alberta provincial election social media played a big role, say analysts. At the start of the federal election, the three main political parties were ready for the social media battles to come. Short videos, memes, […] Read more
Robin Booker
Stories by Robin Booker
Machine empties grain bag, then cleans up
After the grain is augered from the bag it rolls the plastic onto a spool and a conveyer loads it onto a pick-up truck
The best way to deal with a mess is to avoid making it in the first place. The Neeralta grain extractor not only augers grain out of grain bags and into trucks, it also winds up the plastic into tight rolls and drops them into the back of a pick-up truck. For people who have […] Read moreStay tuned to WP for election coverage on ag, rural issues
When looking at the electoral map from the 2011 federal election, most agricultural and rural ridings outside of Quebec are a deep blue, which signifies strong Conservative support. So at first glance there appears little incentive for political parties to pay attention to rural ridings, especially in the West. In the past few elections, prime […] Read more
#Harvest14 photo project earns recognition with award
During seeding and harvest, The Western Producer hosts photo projects encouraging people to send in from-the-field images via social media or email. There’s been an excellent response to these campaigns, with hundreds of images submitted. This week, we also got a nod from the American Agricultural Editors’ Association at their 2015 awards for our photo […] Read more
Video: Canola headers, varieties studied
Rigid, varifeed and draper headers compared
A prairie farm implement research centre is studying which styles of cutting headers work best for straight combining canola. Nathan Gregg, who leads the research for PAMI, said researchers compared the traditional swath and belt pick-up system for straight combining canola with a rigid header, a varifeed header and a draper header. The three-year study […] Read more
Efficient water use key to growing 100 bu. canola
Prairie farmers will have to increase their water use efficiency if they are to achieve 100 bushels per acre in dry land canola production, says Phil Thomas of Agri-Trend. The company recently announced that the first contest in its new Agri-Prize Initiatives will be Canola 100, in which the first farmer to achieve yields of […] Read more
Agronomist posts tweet showing neonic effectiveness; then the fun really began
People make claims on social media that are — how shall I put this delicately? — hard to verify. I’m suspicious by nature and when I see a something online that stands outside my current understanding, I tend to see if the claim is grounded in anything beyond opinion or anecdotal evidence. So my initial […] Read more
Video: Straight-cutting canola old hat for Austria
The Biso Ultralight 800 header can switch from harvesting cereals to canola in minutes
Canadian canola producers are increasingly interested in straight-cutting canola. New technology, such as shatter resistant varieties and new chemicals to desiccate the crop, has spurred the movement. However, when it came to headers that can efficiently straight cut canola, new designs didn’t have to be developed because they could be imported from a region that […] Read more
Video: Heliodor suitable for no-till system
The machine manages crop residue, levels fields and conserves soil moisture, says designer
REGINA — European equipment manufacturers trying to capture business from broad-acre prairie farmers need to remember farmers here like to stretch out. Laurent Letzter, commercial sales manager at Lemken Canada, said the company’s new 52-foot disc for high speeds, called the Heliodor, is built to answer the prairie demand for more acres per hour. The […] Read moreFarmers hot under collar over editorial touting foreign land ownership
In the last edition of The Western Producer, we published an opinion piece by Frank Su, who is a Saskatoon-based financial analyst with ReMax Blue Chip Realty. Su claimed that loosening farmland ownership rules in Saskatchewan would benefit residents of that province, especially retiring farmers. This is because, Su said, the value of Saskatchewan farmland […] Read more
