Figure 1: A weed seed’s perspective of having to germinate in the spring under a thick winter wheat canopy, which reduces the amount and quality of two key components for that weed to germinate: sunlight and heat.

Pest Patrol: Why growing cereal crops is bad for weeds

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

Reading Time: 3 minutes The benefits of growing winter wheat in a crop rotation have been well established. Long-term research at the University of Guelph has shown a 10 bu./ac. increase in corn yields and a five bu./ac. increase in soybean yields when winter wheat is grown. Other benefits, such as increased soil organic matter when cereals are grown, […] Read more

Kellogg’s Canadian operations include its Mini-Wheats plant at Belleville, Ont. and its Canadian office in Mississauga. Other cereals and snack brands imported by Kellogg Canada are produced elsewhere in North America, the company says. (Kellogg Co. photo)

Kellogg to spin off into three food companies

Plant-based foods, North American cereals to be hived off

Reading Time: 3 minutes The company that makes Mini-Wheats cereal, Pringles potato crisps and MorningStar veggie burgers now plans to see those each of those three product lines go their separate ways by the end of next year. Michigan-based Kellogg Co. said Tuesday its board has approved a plan to break into three yet-to-be-named independent publicly-traded companies by way […] Read more


(Lightguard/iStock/Getty Images)

Planting progress picking up in Saskatchewan

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Overall spring planting across Saskatchewan reached 33 per cent complete as of Monday, according to the latest weekly crop report from Saskatchewan Agriculture. Despite the good progress over the week, that’s still 20 points behind the five-year average. When compared to the excellent progress this time last year, the gap expands to 41 […] Read more

One Manitoba company is looking to contract 30,000 acres of buckwheat in 2022.

Can buckwheat make a long, slow comeback?

Manitoba acres are still down, but buyers hope to contract western Canadian growers

Reading Time: 3 minutes It’s not as easy as it used to be to find buckwheat honey in Manitoba. The province was once the buckwheat capital of Canada, with as many as 135,000 acres in 1979, but the area in recent years has been steady around only 5,000 acres. Although there’s demand for buckwheat grown in Western Canada, industry […] Read more


Kellogg, whose products are shown here in a National Breakfast Week promotion with actress and talk show host Drew Barrymore on March 8, has reached a deal with striking U.S. workers. (Kelloggcompany.com)

Kellogg strike ends as workers approve new labour agreement

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Workers at Kellogg’s U.S. breakfast cereal plants voted in favour of a new contract that offers better terms for transitional employees and across-the-board wage increases, ending a weeks-long strike, the company said Tuesday. The five-year contract ends the stalemate between the Froot Loops maker and its factory workers in Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Ag department lowers crop production, export estimates

Expectations knocked down for most major Prairie crops

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Canadian crop production will be down significantly in the 2021-22 marketing year, cutting into exports for all of the country’s major grains, oilseeds and pulse crops. That’s the estimation from the latest supply/demand estimates from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), released Thursday. Total field crop production for all crops is forecast to decrease […] Read more


Manitoba Beef Producers president Tyler Fulton speaks in Winnipeg on July 22, 2021 at a federal/provincial announcement including planned changes to crop insurance against this summer’s drought, alongside federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Winnipeg MP Kevin Lamoureux (r). (Dave Bedard photo)

Manitoba triggers hay disaster benefit

Per-tonne rate lifted to cover feed, transport costs

Reading Time: 2 minutes Manitoba’s crop insurance agency is set to lift the per-tonne rate paid out on insured forage crops to help cover livestock producers’ bills to buy and truck in replacement feed. Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC) on Thursday announced a 2021 hay disaster benefit to provide another $44 per tonne, for every tonne below coverage, to […] Read more

Cheers! Raise a glass to the farm-to-bottle trend

Cheers! Raise a glass to the farm-to-bottle trend

No one knows grain quality quite like a farmer

Reading Time: 6 minutes When sixth-generation potato grower Devon Strang had potatoes that were too small for retail sales, he used to ship them to a dehydrator to be turned into potato flakes.  It didn’t exactly pay. “There are a lot of farms in the area growing potatoes,” Strang explains. “There’s an abundance of smalls and the (dehydrators) won’t […] Read more


(File photo)

Feed weekly outlook: Offshore demand still lifting Prairie barley

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Solid offshore demand for Canadian barley remains the key driver in the domestic feed market, keeping prices high. “It’s certainly not driven by southern Alberta, it’s driven by Vancouver and the export business,” said Allen Pirness, of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge, on the continued strength in barley bids. Typically, arbitrage opportunities would […] Read more

Small grains like rye are the focus of a pilot project to encourage growers to lengthen their rotations with cereals.

Building interest for small grain cereals

This new initiative hopes to grow demand for small grains by recognizing their environmental benefits

Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s everything growers could ask for. Imagine market demand that’s driven by acknowledging the healthfulness of the crops you grow and their environmental and sustainability benefits, plus a premium return on investment so you can afford to plant even more. How many times have growers wanted this kind of market pull in exchange for excellence […] Read more