Grain farmers often have to sort through a lot of products that claim to increase yields and make life easier. Many actually work, but how can farmers know which are right for them? When it comes to trying enhanced efficiency fertilizers, Cynthia Grant, a soil fertility expert with Agriculture Canada, said it depends on whether […] Read more
Tag Archives Technology
Combat nitrogen losses with enhanced products
NH3 performs under pressure
Fall anhydrous can be a headache. You want to put down high rates, but cold weather causes low tank pressure, freezing lines and frozen openers that won’t function properly. High pressure can solve the frozen opener problem, according to Cameron Stewart of Max-Quip Incorporated in Calgary. He says high pressure in the Maxflow VRC II […] Read more
Setting three-sieve shoes on 850-860 combines takes special care – Inside Machines
The number of questions I have about setting the triple sieve shoe in the older 850 and 860 combines shows that we need to take a look at it. A unique characteristic about this shoe as compared to other shoes is that it has three sieves, and the top one is in two sections. Anything […] Read more
Big benefits with flax oil
All fatty acids are not the same, according to the reproductive system of cows. And that’s why adding flax oil to dairy cow diets can increase their fertility and health, according to a Quebec researcher. “Flax can act directly on reproductive tissues,” said Helene Petit in a presentation to feed industry experts at the Western […] Read more
Gardener puts green thumb to work to help others
Charon Blakley watched the television commercials about people living with leprosy and wished she could help. It costs $350 to cure one person from the disease and she needed a project to raise that money. She had the idea of one person helping one person. So this spring, on her farm just south of Langenburg, […] Read more
Fertilizer, fuel bill less than 2008
Prices for diesel fuel, gasoline, natural gas and heating fuel fell sharply between August 2008 and August 2009, providing welcome relief for prairie farmers. According to the latest consumer price index figures released by Statistics Canada, overall energy costs across Canada fell by 19.1 percent in the last year. That figure included a 21.2 percent […] Read more
Researchers seek recipe for all-natural pesticide
Breakfast eaters sometimes sprinkle cinnamon on their cereal, but farmers may someday have the option of doing the same on their cereal crops. Murray Isman of the University of British Columbia’s food and land systems faculty was part of a research team that combined rosemary, cinnamon, cloves, thyme and peppermint oil into an all-natural pesticide […] Read more
Dry weather bites into clubroot cases
Dry weather on the Prairies has reduced canola yields dramatically, but it also took a toll on the canola disease clubroot. In Leduc County, one of the areas of Alberta hardest hit by clubroot, only eight new positive cases have been identified out of 720 fields surveyed this year. Thirty positive fields were identified in […] Read more
EU urged to drop zero GM tolerance
A growing chorus of North American commodity groups is calling on Europe to soften its zero tolerance stance on the presence of unapproved GM crops in grain shipments. GM contamination cases are occurring more regularly as European labs develop more precise tools for detecting unwanted GM crop material. The latest incident has disrupted Canadian flax […] Read more
Google Earth goes farming
BRANDON – Imagine a digital toolbox with Google Earth maps of your field, satellite images along with high resolution aerial photos, all existing maps and field data, plus real time GPS for scouting. All rubber-sheeted and geo-referenced. Sound expensive? Actually, much of it is free for those who know where to click. Simon Knutson, owner […] Read more
