(Doug Wilson photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Lethbridge feed barley’s spring rally muted

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Lethbridge feed barley should be seeing its largest premium over fall and winter months, but so far this year the market’s spring rally has been limited. “This year all we’ve seen is a $5 to $10 per tonne move higher,” said Jim Beusekom, analyst at Market Place Commodities. “So it’s pretty minimal […] Read more

Alberta’s provincial grasshopper forecast map for 2016. Maximum risk ratings for June-July range from “very light” (green) to “severe” (red). (Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

‘Severe’ grasshopper numbers loom over northern Alberta

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada –– A mild winter and a warm, dry spring have created some favourable hatching conditions for grasshoppers in Alberta, with the possibility of a severe outbreak in some areas. According to Mark Cutts, a crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture in Stettler, higher numbers of grasshoppers lie in a region northwest of Edmonton. Beyond […] Read more


A member of Wildfire Management Alberta’s Wild Mountain Unit pulls hose through smouldering forest in the Parsons Creek area of Fort McMurray on May 5. (Chris Schwarz photo courtesy Government of Alberta via Flickr)

Glacier pledges support for wildfire disaster relief

Reading Time: 2 minutes Farm Business Communications’ parent company, Glacier Media, is donating $50,000 toward the Canadian Red Cross’ disaster relief efforts in the Fort McMurray area. The Vancouver company said its donation is also on behalf of individual Glacier business units, which will undertake their own awareness and fundraising efforts to help the city and its residents rebuild […] Read more

(AOHVA.com)

Farming uses exempt from Alberta off-roading ban

Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta’s new provincewide ban on recreational use of off-highway vehicles (OHVs) in provincial parks and on other public lands won’t apply to their use in farm work. The provincial government announced the temporary OHV ban Friday as “another tool… to help prevent the spread of wildfires,” on top of Thursday’s provincewide fire ban and its […] Read more


Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, shown here Sunday at Day of Unity celebrations in Astana, announced a cabinet shuffle Friday in response to rare public protests against farmland ownership reforms. (Akorda.kz)

Kazakh president meets farmland protests with reshuffle

Reading Time: 2 minutes Astana | Reuters — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, facing opposition calls for a demonstration in the business centre Almaty, completed a government reshuffle initiated this week in response to street protests against farmland privatisation plans. Economy minister Yerbolat Dosayev and agriculture minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov, whose ministries were behind the planned land reform, both resigned after […] Read more

(Government of Prince Edward Island via Flickr)

P.E.I. brings provincial vet job in-house

Reading Time: 2 minutes Relying until now on the services of the Atlantic Veterinary College, Prince Edward Island’s government has named a new in-house provincial veterinarian. The province on Tuesday named Dr. Carolyn Sanford to fill the post, in which she’ll oversee policy and regulatory issues related to animal health and welfare, including livestock and poultry as well as […] Read more


Bedding with soy straw

Bedding with soy straw

These farmers are learning the tricks to make it work in the field and in the barn

Reading Time: 7 minutes There’s been great interest in experimenting with crop residues for bedding, and although no one professes to have a perfect solution, there is a lot to be learned from those with growing experience, which means talking to Darin McDonald, a farmer who has baled it all. Equipped with a 150-horsepower tractor and either a Hesston […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Canada may delay foreign worker limits as packers, farms face squeeze

Reading Time: 3 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada may delay implementing new restrictions on the use of foreign workers as farmers and meat processors warn of severe labour shortages in one of the world’s biggest agricultural exporters, the employment minister said. Employers have reported difficulty finding workers despite a 7.1 per cent unemployment rate. Many Canadians resist jobs […] Read more


Farms.com buys Better Farming

Reading Time: 2 minutes A U.S. online agriculture firm has taken another step into paper and ink with a deal for independent Ontario ag journal Better Farming. Ames, Iowa-based Farms.com announced last week it has taken a majority stake in Better Farming publisher Ag Media Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Ag Media was formed in 1999 by ex-employees of […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Limited buying interest softens feeder market

Reading Time: 2 minutes Just when I thought feeder cattle prices were stabilizing, once again the unexpected occurs. A sharp rally in U.S. grain futures, along with weaker fed cattle prices, caused western Canadian feeder cattle to trade $6-$12 lower compared to week-ago levels. Auction markets reported limited buying interest, with often only two or three larger feedlots stepping […] Read more