Reading Time: 4 minutes High crop prices always make the decision to apply crop protection products relatively easy. Just a few years ago, when canola was north of $700 per tonne and wheat was sitting near $500 per tonne, the question was never “Should I spray?” it was “Why wouldn’t I spray?” After all, at those prices if you […] Read more
Where do you cut when you have to cut costs?
As crop prices drop, growers have a new focus on cost containment. Weed control is always a big bill, so it’s only natural this gets a hard look — but taking the wrong steps could cost you money
We need to get our herbicide resistance response right
Dealing with what's become a global problem could end up being one of Canada's key competitive advantages as a grain-exporting nation
Reading Time: 7 minutes In Australia, the problem is so bad growers are catching chaff with mechanical seed destructors or burning it in windrows in order to destroy weed seeds. In the U.S. Cotton Belt, the unthinkable has happened and crews walk through fields, hand-roguing Palmer amaranth at $150 per acre. In Europe, they’re resorting to more and more […] Read more
Head of G3 promises to shake up Canada’s grain industry
Karl Gerrand thinks high-speed logistics are the answer to moving grain. But will his competitors play nice?
Reading Time: 7 minutes If there’s one thing Karl Gerrand understands, it’s that Canada’s newest grain company can’t afford to be just another “me too” operator. Gerrand is heading up Global Grain Group, or G3 as it has quickly been dubbed in the business, a phoenix arising from the ashes of the former Canadian Wheat Board with the backing […] Read more
Unique farmer-driven funding model achieving the ‘im-pulse-able’
The Prairie pulse sector has developed from a few hundred acres to a few million
Reading Time: 6 minutes Sometime in the next year or two, University of Saskatchewan Crop Development Centre pulse breeder Bert Vandenberg expects the sector will quietly cross a very important milestone. In the early days people like him set themselves a lofty goal of capturing a significant number of acres with soil-building, protein-rich legume crops like field peas and […] Read more
Corn isn’t just about crop heat units
New shorter-season hybrids are just part of the Prairie corn picture. Just as important will be the local research to fine-tune how they’ll fit into the production system
Reading Time: 5 minutes As the life-science companies begin to deliver on their promise of shorter-season corn for the Prairies, another challenge arises. Typically corn is grown in rotation with soybeans in a far wetter climate in a corn-soybean rotation. How will it fit in a drier landscape, and in rotation with wheat, pulses and canola? There aren’t many […] Read more
Are Canadian farmers becoming more European?
Canada’s farmers are getting more and more regulated. Do we have to become just like Europe?
Reading Time: 7 minutes In the mid-1970s, when David Rolfe made the decision to sell up in rural England and set up shop in rural Manitoba as one of Canada’s newest immigrant farmers, burdensome regulations were certainly part of the equation. It would have been one thing if they had been sensible regulations well-grounded in reasonable desires, which is […] Read more
Fabulous fababeans
Good results for the past few seasons have led to increased interest in fababeans, but like any new crop, there are still a few hurdles to clear
Reading Time: 6 minutes After a false start in the 1970s, it looks like fababeans are back on the Prairies for good this time. Alberta farmers planted only 15,000 acres in 2012, but most estimates put acreage at well over 100,000 acres last season. This interest has crossed the border into Saskatchewan too, with more than 15,000 acres going […] Read more
Big data in Canadian agriculture? Not yet
Precision agriculture proponents are convinced that the technology will pay off, but that data collection needs to be standardized and not require farmers’ time during the busy seasons
Reading Time: 6 minutes Watching over the fencerow to see how the neighbour is growing that nice crop is a long tradition in farming. Are we heading into an era where you can look over the digital fencerow to look at the neighbour’s data on nutrient placement, seeding rates, variety selection and combine speed? Increasingly each piece of equipment […] Read more
Global grain markets and the global downturn
There’s no major rebound in sight for grain markets, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still take charge of your own fate
Reading Time: 8 minutes There’s less and less doubt about it. What we’re currently facing is a global recession in commodities of all types. Right now the world has plenty of potash, copper, oil, gold and grain. Producers of all types have responded to the extremely strong price signals they’ve been receiving lately and have grown their productivity. That’s […] Read more
Getting that farm data working in the field
Some big ag players and Silicon Valley investors are convinced that precision agriculture and ‘big data’ are the next big things. Convincing farmers is another matter
Reading Time: 5 minutes The problem with any new ag technology is that the engineers can design it, the manufacturers can make it and the marketers can sell it, but it’s left to the farmers out in the field to figure out exactly how to make it work. That’s the dynamic today for precision agriculture, according to one specialist. […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
