Crop Management
IT giant takes steps to develop technologies for use in agricultural production, bringing data together
St. Louis, Mo. — Microsoft is throwing its hat into the agriculture ring in a big way as it moves toward the commercialization of FarmBeats. “FarmBeats is a way to get a lot of data from the farm and merge all of that data with the different data that exists in the cloud to come […] Read more
Crop Management
IGC raises forecast for world corn production
LONDON (Reuters) – The International Grains Council (IGC) on Thursday raised its forecast for global corn production in the 2019/2020 season, mainly reflecting an improved outlook for the U.S. crop. In its monthly update, the inter-governmental body increased its global corn crop forecast by 8 million tonnes to 1.1 billion tonnes. The U.S. crop was […] Read more
Germany expects larger wheat crop despite heatwave
HAMBURG (Reuters) – Germany will produce a larger wheat harvest this year despite the impact of an early summer heatwave followed by repeated rain, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday. The country will harvest 22.71 million tonnes of its most important grain type, winter wheat, up 15.9 percent from 2018’s drought-hit crop, the ministry said […] Read more
French mayors ban glyphosate, defying government
RENNES, France, Aug 22 (Reuters) – Some 20 French mayors have banned glyphosate from their municipalities, defying the government, which is now taking legal action to impose national legislation which allows the controversial herbicide’s continued use for now. In 2017, President Emmanuel Macron had pledged to ban glyphosate in France within three years, rejecting a European Union […] Read more
Canadian chickpeas look ok, but prices soft
Winnipeg – Canada’s chickpea crop likely beat earlier expectations, but poor prices may limit farmer sales at harvest time. “We planted the crop in drought conditions” and were preparing for the worst, said Colin Young of Midwest Grain in Moose Jaw, Sask., pointing to the lack of subsoil moisture in the key chickpea growing regions […] Read more
StatsCan using satellite data to estimate crop yield/production
Statistics Canada has confirmed what most farmers already know – Canada will produce significantly less canola in 2019. Prairie growers are expected to produce 18.5 million tonnes of canola this year, down 9.3 percent from 20.3 million tonnes in 2018, Stats Can said in a production report released August 28. What is new, is that […] Read more
Canadian soybean/corn crops down on the year: Statistics Canada
Winnipeg – Poor spring planting conditions followed by hot and dry July weather likely hurt soybean and corn yields in eastern Canada this year, resulting in smaller crops, according to Statistics Canada’s Production of Principal Field Crops report, released Aug. 28. Nationally, the Canadian soybean crop is forecast at 6.2 million tonnes, which would be […] Read more
Canola harvest expected to be smallest in 4 years
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, (Reuters) – Canadian farmers expect to harvest the smallest canola crop in four years due to reduced plantings, according to a government report released on Wednesday amid a diplomatic dispute between Canada and China, the top importer of the crop. The spat, centred on the arrest of a Chinese executive in Canada and […] Read more
Ottawa allocates $2 million to oat breeding
The federal government today announced that it will spend nearly $2 million to help the prairie oat industry develop new commercial oat cultivars. Ottawa will invest $1,982,915 in prairie oat breeding initiatives — money that will be used to support variety development work led by oat breeder Jennifer Mitchell Fetch at the Agriculture Canada research […] Read more
Man. hay shortage worsens
DAUPHIN, Man. — After a five-minute drive, across a bumpy pasture, Hans Myhre hopped out of his truck to check on a herd of about 40 Charolais cows and a bull. With Manitoba’s Riding Mountains to the south and a stand of poplar trees to the west, the cattle were grazing at a scenic spot […] Read more
