Crop Management
WINNIPEG (Reuters) — Western Canadian farmers still stuck with last year’s harvest are turning to the government for credit help in record numbers, and insiders fear problems could cascade through the agricultural economy as the new planting season gets under way. A record-breaking harvest and harsh winter last year overwhelmed Canada’s two big railways, backing […] Read more
Crop Management
Canadian farmers stuck with last harvest scramble to plant next crop
U.S. corn 19 percent planted, lagging average pace
CHICAGO, April 28 (Reuters) – The pace of U.S. corn planting remained behind normal as of Sunday despite a week of mild weather that spurred the season’s most active field work to date, according to government weekly crop progress data on Monday. U.S. farmers have planted 19 percent of their 2014 corn crop as of […] Read more
Canola prices split between old-new crop
If you only looked at old crop months, Monday seemed like an up day on North American crop futures markets. But new crop months showed none of the excitement, and some traders wrote off the big gains in some old crop months as nothing more than thin-volume silliness. “We have some of the usual sideshows […] Read more
Individual rate and row control for older planters
Corn growers who want individual row control without the expense of a new planter can make it happen with an aftermarket electric motor drive. The Graham Electric Planter Drive (EPD) is available as a retrofit for all brands and model years of planters sold in North America, including finger type and vacuum type. The modification […] Read more
Propane injection gives turbo boost
Propane burns better | More power translates into less diesel fuel and cleaner burning equipment
BRANDON — Diesel engines need extra help working under full load, which is all of the time for combines and 75 percent of the time for tractors. Conventional engineering uses the turbocharger to help the engine produce extra power. However, Maxquip from Alberta has developed technology to enhance the turbo boost with propane. DieselFlex, its […] Read more
More horses provided with less feed
By the time Uli Gehrer pencilled out the economic benefit of his Diesel-Flex prototype, he knew the propane kits would go on his combine and next tractor. The farmer from Niverville, Man., installed the kit on his John Deere 8400T five years ago, shortly after Maxquip started installing its prototype kits on highway tractors. Maxquip […] Read more
The quickest ag engineer
Before returning to the farm to settle down, Toby Graham was chief electronics engineer on the 400 m.p.h. Team Winston, a top fuel dragster that has won three National Hot Rod Association championships. Graham is no stranger to fast and accurate data collections. When designing the electronics package on the Graham Electric Planter Drive, he […] Read more
Best registered herbicides for dandelion suppression
We are starting to see the result of a couple of growing seasons in which dandelions have been poorly dealt with in cropland. A large number of calls to agronomists this spring have been about dandelions and what to do ahead of seeding. Producers are now asking what they can do about in-crop solutions. Let’s […] Read more
Calculator helps farmers assess ecological footprint
The phrase “ecological footprint” was all the rage a few years ago as people attempted to reduce their impact on the earth’s air, water and land. With that concept in mind, a consortium of grower associations and industry groups has developed a software tool to help Canadian farmers measure and minimize their footprint. The group […] Read more
Wheat surges on dry weather concerns, Ukraine tension
CHICAGO, April 24 (Reuters) – U.S. wheat futures jumped more than 2 percent on Thursday on concerns about dry conditions in the U.S. Plains winter wheat belt and some key production areas of western Europe as well as worries about tensions in eastern Ukraine. Soybeans were narrowly mixed amid uncertainty over demand from top importer […] Read more
