Case IH has rolled out its new Magnum Rowtrac tractor, merging rigid-frame tractor design with the features of its Steiger Rowtrac line. (Leeann Minogue photo)

Minogue: In tractors, data is the new tech

Reading Time: 2 minutes Boone, Iowa | Grainews –– Data was the star of the show when Case IH launched its new lineup here during the U.S. Farm Progress Show. Jim Walker, Case IH’s vice-president for its North American agricultural business, told media that although this year’s launch doesn’t have the quantity of new products farmers have seen released […] Read more

hanson acres

Hanson Acres: Interpret this!

When the busload of Chinese farmers arrives on tour, they see more than any of the Hansons had planned

Reading Time: 5 minutes Dale’s shift running the swather was finally over. He’d never been so glad to see a truck pull into the field. He was shirtless when he climbed down from the cab to switch off with his son Jeff. “I had to strip down to stand it in there,” Dale said, wiping sweat from his forehead […] Read more


(Bruce Fritz photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Drydown option cleared for pulse, sunflower growers

Reading Time: 2 minutes Pulse growers whose products are headed to the European Union have one more desiccant option for this year’s harvest. At the end of July, maximum residue levels (MRLs) were published for the Group 14 herbicide saflufenacil on field peas, soybeans, dry beans and sunflowers. Gord Kurbis, Pulse Canada’s director of market access and trade policy […] Read more

A carinata crop in flower near Minton, Sask., about 120 km west of Estevan. (Photo courtesy Agrisoma Biosciences)

Minogue: Feed option may put carinata in Prairie rotations

Reading Time: 2 minutes Carinata is poised to become a more economical crop option for Prairie farmers now that the crop’s meal has the federal seal of approval. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency recently approved carinata meal as feed for Canadian beef cattle. Carinata is agronomically similar to mustard and canola — and according to Steve Fabinjanski, CEO of […] Read more


hanson acres

Hanson Acres: Just one more field to go

It wasn’t anybody’s fault, except maybe the fella with the grin

Reading Time: 5 minutes When Elaine showed him the cracked windshield on Monday afternoon, Jeff didn’t know it was only the first straw. “I was over as far as I could get without sliding into the ditch,” Elaine said when she came home with their son from playschool graduation and Jeff inspected the shiny new crack that zagged from […] Read more

Barbara Aguiar (l) of BASF moderates a panel including Aurelio Pavinato of SLC Agricola; Brian Nunemaker of Oak Prairie Farms; and Charles Hall of the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association. (Leeann Minogue photo)

Minogue: Available acres may make Brazil top soy player

Reading Time: 3 minutes Raleigh, N.C. — Whatever major boosts may soon come in world soybean production are seen coming from countries with the acres to spare, not necessarily from breeders building better beans. That’s how one major player in Brazil’s soybean sector sees the near future, as growers meeting here Thursday discussed the road ahead for the crop […] Read more


Sclerotinia apothecia are very small, about half a centimetre, requiring growers to look closely while scouting. (Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Factors line up for sclerotinia in 2014

Reading Time: 3 minutes To spray or not to spray? It’s a tougher question when it comes to sclerotinia in canola than for most other crop diseases. Last year, the high levels of sclerotinia many forecasters called for didn’t materialize. This year’s disease levels, and farmers’ decisions about going to the expense of spraying to control it, will mainly […] Read more

The jury’s still out on whether larger canola seeds stand a better chance of survival than those of a smaller kernel size. (Photo courtesy Syngenta)

Minogue: In canola seed, smaller size a better value

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canola’s seed kernel size can vary greatly from year to year, ranging from three to 7.5 grams per 1,000 kernels. While some growers believe larger seeds have a better chance of survival and can be seeded at lighter rates, others say there isn’t enough evidence to assume that larger seeds will always have higher survivability. […] Read more


(Photo: WIT.ca)

Fight for votes on Weyburn terminal’s fate lands in court

Reading Time: 2 minutes A group of “dissident shareholders,” seeking farmers’votes to head off a sale of southeastern Saskatchewan’s Weyburn Inland Terminal, will continue its campaign after a brief stop in court. With 15 days to go before a meeting at which shareholders will vote on the proposed takeover of WIT by Winnipeg grain firm Parrish and Heimbecker, WIT’s […] Read more

Commodity analyst Larry Weber, shown here at an SPG meeting in Regina, expects some “swing acres” in Saskatchewan to move into lentils this spring. (Leeann Minogue photo)

Sask. growers eye increased pulse, soybean acres

Reading Time: 2 minutes Having spent the week taking the pulse of Saskatchewan’s grain and oilseed growers, the province’s pea, bean and lentil grower organization expects to see more acres in the province shift this spring to pulses — and to soybeans. “We’re expecting pea and lentil acreage to be up this spring,” Carl Potts, executive director for Saskatchewan […] Read more