In a summer when all the headlines have been about heat waves around the world, it is a blessing that the main grain and oilseed producing areas of North America have mostly avoided extreme heat. The news items about the record number of days that Phoenix, Arizona, had highs above 43 C and the vicious […] Read more
Tag Archives crops
AIM23: Come see the science that’s continuing to transform farming
Today’s cutting edge crop science could seem an intimidating matter, involving chemistry, biology and physics well beyond the elementary stuff most of us struggled with in high school. But it’s very, very easy to see and feel the excitement and enthusiasm of the folks who dedicate their careers and lives to developing new solutions and […] Read more
Analysts struggle with El Niño precipitation predictions
Drought is unlikely but don’t expect a wet summer as world flips rapidly from a La Niña directly into an El Niño event
While it is difficult to predict El Niño’s influence on summer weather for most of North America, there is a strong correlation with temperature on the Canadian Prairies. It typically results in a hotter-than-normal summer, especially for the western half of the region, said John Baranick, DTN’s agricultural meteorologist. When it comes to precipitation, it […] Read more
Analysts struggle with El Nino rain predictions
While it is difficult to predict El Nino’s influence on summer weather for most of North America, there is a strong correlation with temperature on the Canadian Prairies. It typically results in a hotter-than-normal summer, especially for the western half of the region, said John Baranick, DTN’s agricultural meteorologist. When it comes to precipitation, it […] Read more
Profitability the pathway to emissions reduction
Farmers should be obsessing about how to cut their crops’ nitrous oxide emissions. Every kilogram emitted represents much super-expensive fertilizer just farting away into the air, rather than feeding a money-making bushel. Instead, the divisive and caustic politics of climate change have so poisoned our ability to talk about carbon emissions that most seem to […] Read more
Canola finally out-seeds wheat
King wheat has finally lost its crown, but analysts believe it has been only temporarily misplaced. For the first time ever, Canadian farmers planted more canola than all wheat, including durum, according to Statistics Canada. Growers planted a record 22.8 million acres of the oilseed versus 22.4 million acres of the cereal, according to the […] Read more
New York Times ignored GM crop benefits
The New York Times claimed Oct. 29 that it had conducted an “extensive examination” of genetically modified crops and found their benefits to be lacking. The use of the word “‘extensive” by the media is a bit of an oxymoron. It is certainly the case in this situation because the Times would appear to have […] Read more
Adapting crops to wet soil
ARBORG, Man. — It’s almost as if Lorne Johnson is moving from the shallow to the deep end of a pool as he walks into a field of soybeans north of his farm. The soybeans become progressively taller the farther he walks into the field, until Johnson is waist deep in 1.1 to 1.2 metre […] Read more
Farmers hear about new crop lines
Prairie farmers got a sneak preview last week at some of the country’s most promising new agricultural crops. They included new durum varieties with significantly higher yields, spring wheat lines with improved fusarium tolerance and new high-yielding red lentils expected to outyield check varieties by as much as 10 percent. The new products, some of […] Read more
CGC to reclassify 29 wheat varieties
According to the commission’s website, the CWRS varieties already scheduled for reclassification include:
The Canadian Grain Commission is going ahead with a plan to reclassify 25 varieties in the Canada Western Red Spring wheat class. The commission announced July 29 that 25 CWRS varieties, including Lillian, Unity, Harvest and Kane, will be reclassified Aug. 1, 2017. The decision was based on consultations with domestic and international stakeholders, including […] Read more
