Syngenta’s Interaction Centre at Stein, Switzerland. (Syngenta.com)

ChemChina clinches takeover of Syngenta

Reading Time: 2 minutes Zurich | Reuters –– ChemChina has won more than enough support from Syngenta shareholders to clinch its US$43 billion takeover of the Swiss pesticides and seeds group, the two companies said Friday. The deal, announced in February 2016, was prompted by China’s desire to use Syngenta’s portfolio of top-tier chemicals and patent-protected seeds to improve […] Read more

Farmer Brian Derksen seeds wheat on May 2, 2017 near Miami, Man., about 80 km south of Portage la Prairie. (Screengrab from Allan Dawson video)

Prairie seeding off to ‘shaky start’

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Western Canada will likely see some favourable seeding conditions in the short term, one meteorologist says, though wet pockets in some areas need longer to dry out. “We are getting off to a little bit of a shaky start in some spots, but it looks like the weather pattern is going to […] Read more


Jon Neutens. (Supplied photo)

Glacier Media strengthens weather, ag technology team

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier Media, a leading Canadian business information news, insights and data supplier, has appointed Jonathan Neutens as president of its Weather Innovations Consulting (WIN) group. Neutens, who has more than 20 years experience in North America’s agribusiness sector, will lead the team at WIN to scale its business in the ag technology space, building on the existing […] Read more



(Dow.com)

Proposed Dow, DuPont merger gets conditional nod from China

Reading Time: < 1 minute Beijing | Reuters — China has conditionally approved the proposed merger between Dow Chemical and DuPont, the country’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday, a step forward for the deal whose closing has been repeatedly delayed by regulatory hurdles. The merger was approved by EU antitrust regulators in March on the condition the companies divest assets […] Read more

(Pickseed.com)

Pickseed to buy forage seed firm Moore Seeds

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Canadian arm of one of the world’s top forage seed players plans to expand its space in the Peace region with a deal for forage and turfgrass seed dealer Moore Seeds. DLF Pickseed Canada announced April 21 it has a letter of intent in place to buy Moore — based at Debolt, Alta., about […] Read more



Flowering plants such as alfalfa provide a home for beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps that can control diamondback moth, wheat midge, aphids and Hessian flies.

Be kind to your insect friends

Of the thousands of insect species around your fields, only a few damage crops. Here’s a guide to identifying and protecting the good bugs that eat the bad ones

Reading Time: 2 minutes It can be worrying to see insects crawling over your nicely developing crop, but are they doing any damage? And even if they are, before ordering the insecticide, will spraying kill the good bugs that are already at work controlling the bad ones, not to mention other insects that are important for pollination? While killing […] Read more


Parasitoids of potential pest insects
Insects that parasitize and kill other insects are called parasitoids. In their immature stages these parasitoids live in or on the body of another insect (the host), but they are free-living as adults. Many of the parasitoids of insects in Manitoba are either wasps or flies. Parasitic wasps do have what looks like a stinger, but they use this to lay eggs in the insects that they are parasitizing, and will not sting people.

PHOTOS: A guide to beneficial insects

Reading Time: < 1 minute There are thousands of insect species in the fields across Canada. But how can you tell which are the beneficial insects and which bugs are trouble? Here’s a quick guide to help you identify and protect the good bugs that prey on the bad ones. This guide is also available on the Manitoba Agriculture website at www.gov.mb.ca/agriculture […] Read more

(OntLA.on.ca)

Ontario budget seeks tax flexibility for on-farm processing

Reading Time: 4 minutes The Ontario government has balanced its budget for the first time in since 2008 — but Thursday’s budget contained little news for agriculture and rural Ontario. Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s budget mostly highlighted agriculture programs that had already been announced, and maintains $100 million in funding for the provincial Risk Management Program, which helps offsets […] Read more