SPRINGFIELD, Ill.. — The new Veris MSP3 simultaneously measures electrical conductivity, soil pH and organic matter while logging the data on a GPS map. It does all this on the go at six m.p.h. Dubbed by some as a soil lab on wheels, the MSP3 had its first public showing at the InfoAg precision farming […] Read more
News
New machine acts as soil lab on wheels
Saving wildlife habitat becomes group project
MANYBERRIES, Alta. — There is an endless expanse of cloudless blue sky above and a seemingly equal expanse of rolling prairie below in this area of native grassland deep in southeastern Alberta. Few vehicles meet the nondescript white truck as it travels the sparsely populated back roads and byways, but there are many things to […] Read more
Production risk supports grain prices during market turmoil
As Ed White notes in his column this week, continuing production risks have helped crop prices during the recent economic and stock market turmoil. It will be a couple months before all the North American crop is in the bin and it appears U.S. crops will be smaller than expected earlier this summer. Canada’s late […] Read more
Agronomists use mapping function to track organic matter
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Organic matter content is an important field management factor because higher levels hold more moisture and nitrogen. “The range of OM within a field can be as much as three percent,” said Marilyn Kot of Green Acres Tech in southeastern Saskatchewan. “That represents a huge variation in the amount of nitrogen holding […] Read more
Solutions found to dangerous fences that entangle wildlife
MANYBERRIES, Alta. — Fences keep cattle in, but they can also be barriers to wildlife. However, there is a way around the problem. Wildlife friendly fences contain cattle while allowing wildlife to crawl under and better identify the tops of fences for leaping. Multisar, a multi-agency effort to protect wildlife species at risk, paid for […] Read more
NDP leader Jack Layton loses battle with cancer
Dick Proctor, former Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MP, sees a rich irony in the fact that Jack Layton was the only leader in the party’s 50-year history never to win a Saskatchewan seat. “We haven’t done as well on the Prairies under Jack as we have elsewhere but I believe he won the leadership in […] Read more
Canfax Report – for Aug. 25, 2011
FED PRICES RISE Heifers saw a good volume of live sales while live steer trade was limited. Steers in Alberta averaged $107.21 per hundredweight, up $1.80 and heifers averaged $106.90, up $1.90. Rail grade steers in Alberta were $178-$179.85 Light trade in Saskatchewan saw prices 75 cents higher. Interest from American buyers was light and […] Read more
Soil EC data recorder was a Canadian first
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – While Kansas- based Veris Technologies gets the agricultural attention, few people know that a Canadian company was the first to manufacture a soil electrical conductivity instrument. Geonics Limited of Mississauga, Ont., manufactured its first electromagnetic induction geophysical instrument in 1962. It was the EM15, and since then the EM series has become […] Read more
Unique language sought by university researcher
At coffee time in southern Alberta, you might eat a bismarck. In Winnipeg, it might be a jam buster and in Ontario, a jelly doughnut. But bismarcks, jambusters and jelly doughnuts all describe the same thing. That’s one example of differing words in regional dialect that Nicole Rosen is studying. The University of Lethbridge modern […] Read more
Alberta canola growers face disease, frost threat
AIRDRIE, Alta. — A cool, damp spring and a wet summer have some farmers watching the weather and whispering the ‘f’word. Frost is on the minds of many and for canola growers in the Calgary region, it is a concern because the first freeze could come as soon as Sept. 11. Early frost can present […] Read more
