Air movement within an orchard can significantly affect commercial fruit production. An excess or lack of air movement can result in physical or physiological damage to sensitive plant parts and reduce yield and quality. Wind is the most common source of excess air movement in an orchard. “High winds can break tree limbs, disperse straw […] Read more
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Orchardists must track air movement
Crop decisions made close to home: farmer
Brad Hanmer sat and listened while a commodity broker, a trader and an analyst told him and fellow farmers how a variety of market factors would influence their pulse seeding decisions. The experts talked about world supply and demand, interest rates, currency issues and soil moisture all affecting farmers’ seeding intentions. They told producers how […] Read more
Making it in Meacham
MEACHAM, Sask. – At first glance, Meacham is like the hundreds of other villages and towns scattered across the Prairies. Nestled along a bend in Highway 2 as it makes its north-south journey through the middle of Saskatchewan, the village has four streets, three avenues, 90 residents and a few businesses. But something is going […] Read more
Wheat board warns of critically low moisture levels
It’s probably become part of their regular routine, but prairie farmers have been advised to start preparing drought strategies for 2004. “Farmers will have to be looking at drought mitigation strategies and crops that will perform under dry conditions,” says Bruce Burnett, director of weather and crop surveillance for the Canadian Wheat Board. “We’re going […] Read more
Paquet: the unlikely biologist
MEACHAM, Sask. – Paul Paquet, one of Canada’s leading experts on wolves and bears, has an unlikely home address. While he has built a career specializing in large carnivores, he has chosen to live where such animals are non-existent. The wildlife biologist is founder and co-director of the Central Rockies Wolf Project and works with […] Read more
High flying soybeans back to earth with S. American harvest
The high flying soybean futures market, whose updraft has helped buoy canola prices, will likely fall in a few weeks when South America’s large crop hits world markets. Errol Anderson of Pro Market Communications told producers at the Saskatchewan Canola Growers annual meeting last week that soybeans could climb higher in the short term but […] Read more
United Nations criticizes BSE control measures
Without naming names, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned Jan. 12 that too many countries are too lax in attempts to control the spread of bovine spongi-form encephalopathy. It said a key step all countries should take is to ban the use of animal protein and bone meal in all animal feed – […] Read more
CWB cautious in durum calls
The Canadian Wheat Board plans to adopt a cautious approach in calling forward durum deliveries for the remainder of the crop year. The board wants to avoid a repeat of last year, when it issued calls for all the durum farmers had available to deliver to enable them to take advantage of higher prices in […] Read more
Limited market options for cull dairy cows
Dairy farmers are scrambling to find homes for their cull dairy animals almost 10 months after the U.S. border was closed to live cattle. Before that, 80 percent of the cull dairy animals were sold to American packing plants for processing. “The real fallout has been the selling of cull cows,” said Aart Okkema, a […] Read more
Aussies expect small chickpea crop in 2004
An Australian chickpea specialist doesn’t expect much of a crop from the country down under in the coming year because of disease pressure. “We had so much ascochyta in 2003 that the inoculant will be everywhere,” said Kevin Moore, who works with the department of agriculture in the state of New South Wales. “I wouldn’t […] Read more
