Reading Time: 2 minutes Already sharing an office and support staff, the Alberta Wheat Commission and Alberta Barley are taking the next step by sharing a manager. The two grower commissions announced Wednesday that the AWC’s general manager Tom Steve will now serve also as Alberta Barley’s general manager, replacing Rob Davies. With Steve on board, the two commissions’ […] Read more
Alberta wheat, barley groups test merged management
Some old ways aren’t better, but…
Long-term rotation study underlines that summerfallow harms soil health, but the old mixed farming model looks pretty good
Reading Time: 4 minutes You might think that a long-term crop test might mean five years. A decade would be remarkable. But what could plots tell you about soil health if they’ve been going on for 87 years? They would tell you that Prairie farmers were right to stop keeping fields in fallow as part of a rotation and […] Read more
Feed barley market firms with weak production numbers
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — A 16.8 per cent drop in the size of Canada’s barley crop has given feed barley prices some support, according to an industry-watcher in Alberta. “The market is looking fairly strong,” said Allan Pirness of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge. “It’s made things a little firmer for new-crop feed grain.” Wet weather […] Read more
Canadian canola deliveries reported near record
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Canola remains the cash-flow king of the Prairies, with farmers making near record deliveries off the combine in the Canadian Grain Commission’s latest weekly report. A total of 627,000 tonnes of canola were delivered into the commercial system during the week ended Sept. 10, which would mark the third highest single week […] Read more
Winter cereal growers in holding pattern as clouds loom
Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — Dry conditions in southern areas of Saskatchewan and Alberta are limiting winter cereal seeding so far, as farmers wait for rain. But that’s not the best strategy, according to Cordon Geisam, the southern Saskatchewan and southeastern Alberta territorial manager for FP Genetics, a Regina-based seed company that deals in fall rye hybrids. […] Read more
After the CWB
Whether you farm in the West or East, looking at how Prairie farmers are managing their sales after five years on their own will make you a better marketer
Reading Time: 9 minutes Maybe you mourned its demise, or maybe you danced on its grave. Either way, five years after the federal government put the Canadian Wheat Board’s single desk six feet under, it’s clear there will be no resurrection. How have farmers adapted to marketing wheat without the single desk? Where are they excelling, and where not? […] Read more
New cereal varieties for Eastern Canada
There’s only a handful of new varieties for planting this fall, but they’re worth a hard look
Reading Time: 2 minutes Increased winter wheat acres are good for Eastern Canada, not only because of crop diversity and longer rotations, but as a contributor to overall soil health. Despite the challenges of fall planting, farmers are clearly deciding there’s real value in maintaining wheat acres: the message is definitely getting through. Yet other, more immediate concerns are […] Read more
Prairie wheat commissions to collaborate on research funding
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Prairie provinces’ three wheat commissions are set to take a team approach to research funding through a new not-for-profit body. The Alberta Wheat Commission, Sask Wheat and the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association on Tuesday announced the formation of the Canadian Wheat Research Coalition (CWRC) to “facilitate long-term investments aimed at improving profitability […] Read more
U.S. seeks WTO dispute panel on China’s grain import quotas
Reading Time: < 1 minute Geneva | Reuters — The United States has requested a World Trade Organization panel be set up to investigate Chinese tariff-rate quotas (TRQ) for agricultural products, the WTO said on Monday, setting up a showdown between the two largest economies. The row, which includes tariffs for wheat, rice, and corn, was initiated under the Obama […] Read more
Where to next for soft white wheat?
Brewers and bran markets are still buying, but the heady days of the 1990s are gone
Reading Time: 4 minutes Two years ago, word spread early in the summer of an unexpected premium for soft white winter wheat, once a powerhouse in cereal production in Ontario. It wasn’t that pastry chefs or bakers had awakened to the benefits of home-grown soft white wheat, it was just that a new Kellogg’s plant in Mexico had miscalculated […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
