Dow Chemical Company and DuPont Company announced pending nuptials this morning for their agricultural inputs children and two others. DowDuPont will become three companies instead of one or two, breaking the business into an agriculture division, a science based industrial products company and a materials science company that creates specialty products. On a conference call […] Read more
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Drone puts on a bottle and gets into the application business
A remote controlled aircraft maker from China has stepped into small agriculture in a big way. DJI is taking orders in China for a battery powered, eight-motor helicopter with a 2.6 gallon spray tank. The company said the drone can cover about 10 acres an hour at low water rates, even with four battery changes […] Read more
Dairy goats return to warm reception
Sandy Larocque was back in the Canadian Western Agribition show ring last month and loving it. After a 12-year absence, dairy goat breeds returned to the event in a small but significant way. Just five breeders participated, but Larocque said interest was strong. “It was unbelievable,” she said as the goat events concluded. “Yesterday we […] Read more
Short-covering boosts CME live, feeder cattle futures
CHICAGO, Dec 10 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts closed higher on Thursday, driven by short-covering that gradually gave way to this week’s lower cash prices and lackluster wholesale beef demand, traders said. Spot December closed 1.700 cents per lb higher at 121.550 cents, and February up 2.375 cents to 126.525. “It’s just […] Read more
The big squeeze
Canada’s international trade deal with Europe and an as-yet unapproved agreement with the Trans-Pacific Partnership have raised serious questions about the future of the supply management sectors in Canada. Dairy, poultry and egg producers have been protected by the system of production quotas and high tariffs for decades. These articles explore the dairy industry’s thinking […] Read more
Bill 6 – Dec. 17 – Bill 6 passes: anger ‘all out of proportion’
UPDATED: December 18, 2015 – 1200CST – Farmers drove their trucks down highways, parked their tractors outside meeting halls, carried signs on pitchforks, created Facebook pages and presented more than 22,000 signatures in the legislature, all in an effort to kill a controversial Alberta farm worker bill. (Full story is here, or scroll down) Side […] Read more
Dairy’s milky future
Dairy farmers are optimistic the industry will stabilize and thrive now that the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement has been signed. Economists think it’s the beginning of the end. Who’s right? By ED WHITE, WINNIPEG BUREAU
Now is the time to tackle the unsustainable trends of dairy supply management, say leading agricultural economists and farm leaders. It might not be the sort of thing a new government relishes wading into, but some think that if supply management doesn’t set itself up for the future, it might not have much of one. […] Read moreWhat to know when deciding whether to lease or buy
Farmers often struggle when deciding whether to lease or buy. There is no right or wrong answer, and in the end there is often little difference. Here are some things to consider that may help decide the best way to go. When leasing an asset, 100 percent of the payments are considered tax deductible when […] Read more
New U of S researcher studies asexual seed
The University of Saskatchewan’s Global Institute for Food Security has hired its first research leader. Tim Sharbel was leading a research group in Germany when the university approached him two years about becoming the institutes’ Research Chair in Seed Biology. “It’s a huge opportunity,” he said. “Basically it enables me to expand and do more […] Read more
Stock dog tears through competition
Belle the stock dog added to her already impressive resume when she and handler Steve Rosvold won the championship trials at Canadian Western Agribition Nov. 26. Belle manoeuvred three sheep through a chute and into a pen in just 1:55. Competitors are allowed four minutes. She received a meat-filled bone for her efforts. “That was […] Read more
