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
Kellogg strike ends as workers approve new labour agreement
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 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
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
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
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
Detecting stripe rust in wheat before it strikes
Resistance is low in current varieties. An early warning system could allow for fungicide application only when needed
Reading Time: 5 minutes Stripe rust is wily and tough. For the longest time, Canadian farmers could depend on cold winters and a fairly hot, dry summer climate to keep it at bay. But stripe rust is also highly adaptable and around 2000, scientists noticed a change. “Pathogens always evolve,” says André Laroche, a research scientist with Agriculture and […] Read more
Wireworms a target for first Group 30 insecticide in Canada
BASF picks up registration for two broflanilide products
Reading Time: 2 minutes The list of insecticides cleared for use in Canadian crops now includes its first Group 30 chemistry, as BASF makes plans to launch it in new wireworm control products next year. BASF Canada Agricultural Solutions on Monday announced approval from Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) for broflanilide, a GABA-gated chloride channel allosteric modulator. […] Read more
Rye sees a resurgence
New high-yielding hybrids with better ergot resistance are finding a home in the pasture and feedlot
Reading Time: 6 minutes Rye — arguably the runt of the litter among Prairie grains in recent decades — has staged something of a comeback. But this isn’t your granddaddy’s rye. Since 2016, rye’s acreage across the Prairies has been on a steady climb. Statistics Canada pegs last fall’s seedings at 352,500 acres, up from 225,000 four years ago, […] Read more
Getting winter wheat back on track
Insurance coverage for later seeding could help reverse the acreage decline
Reading Time: 5 minutes For many years, Prairie producers have heard about the advantages of winter wheat — high yields, less disease and weed pressure and early harvest. It’s also more duck-friendly — there’s no spring tillage to disturb their nests. That’s the pitch, but in recent years farmers haven’t been buying it. Statistics Canada reports Prairie winter wheat […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
