Americans are starting to compare this year’s dry summer in the U.S. Midwest with the drought of 1988. If they are correct, then food buyers the world over should be worried because their costs will rise. The North American growing season 25 years ago was a disaster. U.S. corn yields that year fell to 85 […] Read more
Tag Archives Ag Finance
Drought threatens U.S. crops, but no comparison to ’88
Reviving U.S. economy could be trigger for global recovery
MONTREAL — There are signs that the world is being extricated from years of financial doldrums by the country that put it there in the first place, says an economist. “It seems that the global economy has found its growth engine probably in the most unlikely of places — in the U.S. economy,” said Stuart […] Read more
Pioneer name changes
Pioneer Hi-Bred International has changed its public face. The world’s largest seed company used to mention its parent company, DuPont, only on second reference, but no more. The parent is now front and centre: DuPont Pioneer. Ian Grant, president of DuPont Pioneer Canada, said the name change won’t directly affect the company’s operations. The move […] Read more
Flexibility required by both sides for supply management survival
The two extremes in the supply management debate are doing a disservice to the discussion about the impact that potential trade deals could have, says a respected analyst. Al Mussell, a market analyst at the George Morris Centre in Guelph, Ont., and president of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society, said in two papers published last […] Read more
Hand auger reaps rewards
A $125 investment can pay off in thousands dollars for irrigation farmers. That investment is a two-inch hand auger with which farmers can take soil samples and determine when the crop needs additional water. “A $125 two-inch hand auger should be in the back of every irrigation farmer’s truck,” said Alberta Agriculture agronomy researcher Ross […] Read more
Ideal nitrogen fertilizer depends on soil, weather
It depends. That’s the answer to questions about what kind of nitrogen gets best results in canola, wheat and barley, according to recent studies. Alberta Agriculture agronomy specialist Ross McKenzie is in the fifth year of a five-year study on nitrogen fertilizer trials that compare the urea, ESN and urea-ESN blended forms of nitrogen when […] Read more
Barley markets poised for rebound?
Barley may experience a renaissance when the CWB’s marketing authority changes this summer. Farmers are signing malting contracts with major brewing companies even before the board’s status changes from a single desk agency to a voluntary marketer Aug. 1, said Brian Otto, past-president of the Western Barley Growers Association. The board acted as a middleman […] Read more
Hero chain sinks teeth into Angus beef
Angus beef from Alberta and British Columbia is on the fast food menu for consumers in the greater Toronto area. Hero Certified Burgers has more than 30 franchises in Ontario, all of them using and advertising their use of Heritage Angus Beef, a brand name for beef from 14 family ranches in Western Canada. The […] Read more
Pooled registered pension plans coming
A few months ago, I talked about Ottawa’s interest in overhauling the Canada Pension Plan to accommodate a rapidly aging population, longer life spans and fewer young people to help pay for it. The government has investigated a private sector option called Pooled Registered Pension Plans. PRPPs have rapidly evolved from study phase to a […] Read more
Fences make great barriers
TWIN BUTTE, Alta. — Grizzly bears started nudging Mac Main’s new feedyard fence only days after it was installed. The southwestern Alberta rancher knows this because their visits were recorded on motion-sensitive cameras. The cameras also recorded visits from cougar, elk and deer. None of them gained entry to his feedyard, but some of them […] Read more
