Photo: File

Feed weekly outlook: DDGs becoming another feed option

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm – As traditional feed grains such as barley and wheat become more expensive due to persistent drought-like conditions in the Prairies, many feedlots are using alternative sources of feed for their animals. Dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGs), the grain by-products which remain after starch has been fermented through the making of alcohol or […] Read more

A sharply smaller spring wheat harvest due to drought may force bakers to change how they work with flour.  Photo: DanielBendjy/E+/Getty Images

Millers, bakers fret as drought withers North America’s spring wheat

Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters – Millers and bakers are draining wheat reserves and paying more for spring wheat used in baking, as drought shrivels crops across the Canadian Prairies and northern U.S. Plains that produce more than half of the world’s supply. U.S. and Canadian farmers are bracing for a sharply smaller spring wheat harvest due to the […] Read more


Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, shown here with Craig Riese (l) of Keystone Agricultural Producers and Manitoba Beef Producers president Tyler Fulton, speaks on July 22, 2021 at The Forks in Winnipeg. (Dave Bedard photo)

Tax deferrals, crop insurance changes en route against drought

Assessments underway for AgriRecovery, minister says

Reading Time: 5 minutes Updated — As the federal government looks to manage impacts of ongoing drought conditions in Canada’s West, producers in parts of five provinces can already expect to be eligible for the livestock tax deferral program. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Thursday in Winnipeg that producers in drought-designated areas of southern Alberta, southeastern British Columbia, northwestern […] Read more

Ryan Boyd wanted to know, “What if we’re missing our big chance?” As every farmer knows, it might be the toughest question in agriculture, but Boyd refused to shrug if off. He spent months on research, left the farm for weeks at a time, logged thousands of miles, and returned home to not only make substantial improvements, but also to inject more energy and determination than it has seen in over a decade.

The big question

He worked hard, kept his head down, made progress. But more and more, Ryan Boyd was wondering, “What if I’m missing out on my best chances?”

Reading Time: 8 minutes When Ryan Boyd set out on an international tour in 2019, he was looking for ways to both challenge and improve the way he farms near Forrest, Manitoba. Ryan and his wife Sarah, and his parents Joanne and Jim, own South Glanton Farms just north of Brandon, where they grow annual crops and raise a […] Read more


Farmer and Grainews columnist Toban Dyck inspects wheat on July 6, 2021 near Winkler, Man., where hot and dry weather has led to thin, uneven stands. (Photo: Reuters/Rod Nickel)

Saskatchewan raises salvage threshold for parched crops

Stock watering program also boosted; APAS, Tories' ag critic had called for more drought aid

Reading Time: 3 minutes Saskatchewan’s provincial crop insurance agency is raising the yield threshold at which drought-damaged crops can be grazed, baled for greenfeed or cut for silage with no penalty on future coverage. Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. said Wednesday it would double the “low yield appraisal” threshold values on cereal or pulse crop acres put to feed. SCIC […] Read more

Brad Glasman, left, and Craig Merkley, both of the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority, have been working for years to establish a demonstration farm.

Controlled drainage showcased on Ontario demo farm

Farm near Thorndale has numerous drainage and soil health practices to see

Reading Time: 3 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Drainage contractors were hard at work at a farm just west of Thorndale in early June, creating a showcase tile drainage project. Numerous drainage systems and cropping best practices will be demonstrated at the farm, owned by the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA). Why it matters: Drainage is important to profitability on […] Read more


Red clover has been a standard in cover crops and there are those who still favour it.

Crunching the numbers on cover crops

The economics can be a challenge, but passionate farmers believe the longer you stick with covers, the more they’ll pay

Reading Time: 6 minutes In the past five to 10 years, few topics have been as polarizing as cover crops. Advocates praise their benefits. Detractors cast doubts. And in the midst of it all, there’s a flood of technological change, whether that’s something simple, like switching from red clover to a different species like oats, or whether it’s going […] Read more

Wheat breeding hasn’t had the same investment level as corn and soybeans, which has slowed the pace of discovery.

The next step to GMO wheat

Argentina has approved a drought-resistant GMO variety. Will it come to Canada?

Reading Time: 5 minutes Bioceres, an Argentine biotech company, has released a genetically modified wheat variety that is both drought-tolerant and resistant to glufosinate-ammonium. Known as HB4, it was approved late in 2020 although it still faces a number of significant hurdles, first of which is convincing Brazil, Argentina’s largest export market, to accept the innovation. Also, of course, […] Read more


The mobile robot unit (with the tower in the background) is capable of taking phenotypic measurements of a corn plant at three different levels, without damaging the plant.

Probing drought stress in corn

The potential for measuring, modelling and helping improve production is astounding

Reading Time: 6 minutes The design and creation of a new robotic device for phenotyping plants is a double-sided boon to agriculture. On one hand, it is indicative of the enormous potential of the autonomous systems now in development for farm applications. On the other, it’s a huge leap forward for researchers and plant breeders and their ability to […] Read more