Canada’s 550 pullet producers are waiting for a decision from Ottawa on whether they can form the newest supply management agency. Pullet Growers of Canada, which represents farmers who raise birds for the Canadian egg-producing sector, applied to the Farm Products Council of Canada for agency status during public hearings in Ottawa and Winnipeg. Sector […] Read more
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Pullet producers waiting for decision
Report finds marketing benefits in environmental farm plans
The Environmental Farm Plan program, popular with farmers but largely abandoned by governments, could be a powerful way for producers to connect with customers, says an Ontario report. “What we increasingly find is that purchasers of the product are asking different questions than they used to, questions about how the product was produced,” George Morris […] Read more
Groups continue protests against GM alfalfa in Canada
Industry meetings | Anti-GM lobby, seed trade officials continue debate
The Canadian Seed Trade Association’s annual meeting was met July 15 with demands that plans for genetically modified alfalfa be shelved. Protesters in front of a Quebec City hotel where the meeting was being held said delegates would finalize a plan that would set rules for a co-existence plan that would allow GM and non-GM […] Read more$8M in barley funding willtarget new varietal research
The prairie barley industry is welcoming an $8 million, five-year federal investment into industry research, concentrated largely at Alberta’s Lacombe Research Centre. The new research involving Agriculture Canada scientists, University of Saskatchewan researchers and industry direction will be aimed at making the industry more sustainable and market-responsive. “These dollars are exactly what the industry needs,” […] Read more
Corn overshadows wheat in northern U.S.
In Western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota corn and soybeans are taking over land once seeded to wheat and small grains. The story is similar in Manitoba’s Red River Valley. Their experience might be instructive as seed companies like Monsanto, which recently announced $100 million to develop new corn varieties for Western Canada, promote the crop beyond its traditional base.
BRECKENRIDGE, Minn. — A nice field of wheat is emerging here in the rich soil and good growing conditions of western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. But regardless of how it turns out, the farmer who seeded it doesn’t expect to make money on the crop. Across the region, farmers almost never seed wheat for […] Read moreFarmers like corn yields but still have soft spot for wheat
Conor Smith has no trouble finding farmers in his region who love growing wheat. “It’s an emotional thing here,” he said while touring around the rich farmland of west-central Minnesota and southeastern North Dakota. “People grew up growing wheat and have a lot of fond memories.” Yet despite a local soft spot for the crop, […] Read more
Producers uncertain about financial help
Janet Carr and her family had to watch helplessly from a hill June 20 as fast moving, dirty water from the Bow River flooded their pastures southeast of Calgary. The water was raging, cows were bawling and there was nothing they could do. The Carrs had 200 cows on pasture, and after the flood waters […] Read more
Ag Notes
New forage board director Diane Knight from the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Agriculture and Bioresources has been elected to the Saskatchewan Forage Council’s board of directors. Re-elected to the board for new terms were Aaron Ivey, producer from Ituna, Sarah Sommerfeld with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture in Outlook and Alan Iwaasa with Agriculture […] Read more
FCC reports strong performance in annual report
Farm Credit Canada, the Regina-based federal crown corporation and largest Canadian farm lender, has reported net income of more than half a billion dollars for the last fiscal year. The money will divided between a dividend to the federal government and reinvestment in the corporation. The corporation’s strong performance reflects an income and asset boom […] Read more
Saskatchewan and Manitoba crop reports
SASKATCHEWAN Warm weather in the second week of July assisted crop development and haying. On July 15, livestock producers had 29 percent of the hay crop cut. Across the province, 66 percent of fall cereal, 65 percent of spring cereals, 66 percent of oilseed and 72 percent of pulse crops were at normal stages of […] Read more
