Crop ManagementIntensive management | Farmers must exercise caution to avoid excess tillering
What if you grew 100 bushel wheat with 15 percent protein last year and the elevators gobbled it up, leaving you with empty bins before February? “Well, we get to do a lot of snowmobiling,” said Nick Scharf, who grew 6,000 acres of soft spring wheat with brother Matthew on their farm west of Saskatoon […] Read more
Crop Management
Growers boost wheat yields, protein content
Group seeks court order on USDA over genetically modified alfalfa
March 13 (Reuters) – A public interest group is asking a court to force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to turn over documents explaining its approval of a genetically altered alfalfa even as the department acknowledged the crop’s potential to do environmental damage. The Center for Food Safety said on Thursday that it believes the […] Read more
Ukraine 2014-15 crop prospects remain favourable: USDA
(Reuters) — Prospects for Ukraine’s winter crops and spring-sowing campaign remain favorable, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday, although a weakened currency could eventually curb the use of imported inputs such as hybrid seeds. “Conditions have been generally favourable for winter crops,” the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service said in a report. “The country’s […] Read more
CME Group to set variable price limits for CBOT grains
CHICAGO, March 12 (Reuters) – CME Group, the parent of the Chicago Board of Trade, said on Wednesday it planned to set variable price limits on CBOT grain and oilseeds futures on May 1, pending approval by the U.S. futures regulator. The exchange said it also planned to eliminate price limits on CBOT grain and […] Read more
Brazil government slashes soy outlook, doesn’t expect more cuts
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) — Brazilian government crop supply agency Conab slashed its forecast for the 2013-14 soybean harvest by five percent to 85.44 million tonnes on Wednesday, citing climate problems in several states late in the growing period. The new outlook probably reflects the worst of the damage, and the next official forecast should remain […] Read more
Syngenta details rules for controversial new GMO corn seed
CHICAGO, March 7 (Reuters) – Syngenta AG will require U.S. farmers who plant a new and controversial type of genetically modified corn this spring to pledge in writing not to ship it China or the European Union, a trade association said on Friday. The mandate is the latest step by the world’s largest crop chemicals […] Read more
The reality of 100 bushel per acre wheat
Wheat agronomist Phil Needham admits his four primary cornerstones for growing 100 bushel spring wheat in central Saskatchewan seem basic, but they work. Needham makes as many as 80 presentations a year outlining his four principles of growing big wheat crops, usually with a handful of those workshops on the Canadian Prairies, where he has […] Read more
Wheat row spacing requires narrow focus: grower
New way of working | Agronomist Phil Needham says Western Canadian farmers should rethink wide row spacing
Western Canadian farmers and the folks who build their seeding equipment seem to have a love affair with wide row spacing, but is it a healthy relationship? Phil Needham says not. Needham feels the love-in is based more on emotion than rational thought. He said it might not be healthy at all, especially for the […] Read more
New model sprayers rebuilt from ground up
Updated design Versatile’s two-wheel drive machines will replace the SX275 model with ground up redesign
Versatile has released two models of its new and much anticipated sprayer. The machines replace the SX275 model that was a refined version of the Minnesota built Red Ball sprayer. The SX240 and SX280 are powered by a Cummins QSB 6.7 litre engine, with the Versatile model names describing the horsepower. The QSB doesn’t require […] Read moreCattail harvesting research conducted in Manitoba
ARBORG, Man. — Standing in front of a display table, Richard Grosshans grabbed a plastic bag filled with dried cubes that Mr. Magoo might have mistaken for shredded wheat cereal. While edible, if desperate, the cubes are not made of wheat. They are 50 percent straw and 50 percent cattail. “These are hybrid fuel cubes,” […] Read more
