Crop Management
Feb 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture will invest $1 billion in pilot projects that promote farming, ranching and forestry practices that cut greenhouse gas emissions or capture and store climate-warming carbon, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack told Reuters. The agency is due to announce the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program later on Monday. […] Read more
Crop Management
Drought hits large wheat-importing region
Drought is threatening cereal crops in several North African countries, according to Gro Intelligence, a climate analytics platform. Much of Algeria is experiencing “severe” drought while “extreme” drought is widespread in Morocco and Tunisia. The analytics firm is forecasting an increase in grain imports to what is already the world’s largest wheat-importing region if the […] Read more
Pulling the curtain on Chinese tariffs
China filled its wheat tariff rate quota last year for the first time since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001. The country bought 9.72 million tonnes of the crop, which is slightly above its TRQ of 9.64 million tonnes. Wheat imported under the TRQ is assessed a one percent tariff. Anything beyond that volume […] Read more
Canola prices expected to stay high
New crop canola prices are more likely to head up than down, says a trader of the commodity. PI Financial broker Ken Ball says new crop canola is comfortably valued at $840 per tonne right now. “It’s certainly not likely to come crashing down even with a good crop in Canada, the European Union and […] Read more
Signs point toward peak in nitrogen fertilizer prices
Correction catches observers off guard, pointing to the possible start of a softening trend as EU natural gas prices ease
Fertilizer markets appear to have reached a tipping point, says an industry analyst. Urea prices in the United States careened lower in the first week of January and it is now the cheapest nitrogen fertilizer product in that market. The sudden correction that caught many off guard appears to be the first sign of a […] Read more
New dirt from Olds on the latest soil sensors
Measuring soil nutrients without sending samples to a lab is a rapidly developing area of on-farm agronomy
The soil-sensor market is growing rapidly, so it’s not surprising Olds College deployed multiple systems to see how they hold up in its Smart Farm. Daniel Stefner of Olds College described four soil nutrient devices and tools the College is evaluating during a presentation at the Alberta Agronomy Update in January. First up was the […] Read more
P.E.I. hopes to send spuds west
Prince Edward Island potato growers hope that sending spuds to Alberta for processing will ease struggles caused by export restrictions. It won’t make a big dent in the supply backlog, but Island potato farmer Terry Curley of Monaghan Farms said it helps. “Every little bit is a help and that’s the way we’re looking at […] Read more
Canola Performance Trials – the big plots are in for 2021
The annual Canola Performance Trials run by growers’ groups in Western Canada have completed the assessment of the field-scale yields and added that to their annual small plot results made available earlier this year. Those straight cut fields showed off yields that were up to 180 percent of the check, Invigor L340PC. However, those weren’t […] Read more
What is the difference between OEM filters and aftermarket products?
Last year reminded us that, even with the dominance of reduced tillage, drought still pushes dirt into our air and into the filters we expect to protect engines and our lungs. New Holland filter engineer Aaron Booth says the three prairie provinces were especially hard hit with dust last summer, and he fears the climate […] Read more
Aphanomyces remains a threat despite drought
Aphanomyces levels in Alberta pea and lentil crops plummeted last year because of the drought, but growers still need to be careful planting peas and lentils in fields with a history of the disease. Robyne Bowness Davidson, pulse specialist at Lakeland College, said the only way to know how last year’s drought affected aphanomyces levels […] Read more
