Irrigation Archives | Country Guide

Federal fund, Alberta government back irrigation upgrades

Infrastructure Bank lends cash for system improvements

By Dave Bedard October 10, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Eight irrigation districts in Alberta are set to tap into the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s new $1.5 billion pool of funding earmarked for irrigation, to receive loans worth about $407.5 million. The Alberta and federal governments on Friday announced a total investment of $815 million — including repayable CIB funds, provincial support and irrigation district contributions […] Read more

Crops, Machinery

Federal irrigation pledge seen flowing mainly to Prairies

Infrastructure plan also includes promised broadband support

By D.C. Fraser October 2, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes Prairie provinces will receive the bulk of Ottawa’s $1.5 billion commitment to support irrigation projects, according to federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday launched a three-year, $10 billion infrastructure plan aimed at five different sectors, including agriculture. The $1.5 billion is expected to result in 700,000 acres of irrigated land. […] Read more

Friedhelm Hoffmann has fertigated corn, soybeans and wheat, which he states yielded 140 bushels per acre.

Crops

Get there on time

Timely delivery is a big plus for “fertigation,” but can you afford the costs and the management demands?

By Ralph Pearce January 10, 2019

Reading Time: 7 minutes In precision agriculture, the focus is typically on the low-hanging fruit, i.e. the use of yield data to create variable-rate fertilizer scripts, investing in individual row units with automatic down-force, or using aerial imagery to pinpoint trouble spots in a field. Most such discussions are also confined to choices about soil, seed and fertility. Yet […] Read more

Crops, Reuters, Soybeans

Coffee may profit more than soy in Brazil’s new farming frontier

By roberto-samora March 27, 2018

Reading Time: 2 minutes Luis Eduardo Magalhaes, Brazil | Reuters –– Farmers tending vast, flat soy and cotton fields that spread as far as the eye can see in northeastern Brazil are finding that coffee crops might provide higher profits in the country’s agricultural frontier. More coffee farms are being developed in the western part of Bahia state, which […] Read more

General, Machinery

Ontario power utilities offer farm water pump rebate

By Country Guide Staff March 25, 2018

Reading Time: 2 minutes Ontario farmers buying certain types of high-efficiency water pumping systems for irrigation, horticulture or stock watering could now be up for rebates. Hydro One and Niagara Peninsula Energy (NPEI) on Friday announced the AgriPump rebate program, which the two electricity utilities described as the first plan of its kind in the province. For farmer customers […] Read more

“We have identified several soybean varieties with a potential of producing more than 50 bu./ac. marketable seed yields.” – Manjula Bandara, CDCS.

Crops, Soybeans

Growing soybeans in southern Alberta

Farmers would like the rotation option, but heat units are marginal and soybeans must compete with high-value irrigation crops

By Jeff Melchior March 23, 2018

Reading Time: 7 minutes For some Prairie farmers, the question of whether to introduce soybeans into the rotation may seem like a no-brainer. They’re good nitrogen fixers and have proven a hit on rain-fed land in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where soybean acreage has increased dramatically over the past decade. But if you’re a producer in Alberta, the answer is […] Read more

A drip line is shown in proximity to standing corn.

Crops

Subsurface drip irrigation

Interest is growing even in corn and soybeans, although it’s not for everyone

By Ralph Pearce June 12, 2017

Reading Time: 9 minutes When it comes to being a better farm manager, many retailers, extension personnel and researchers talk about cost of production and “controlling the controllable,” which leads to the usual factors coming up, including seed selection, soil fertility, residue management and weed control. But the one factor that is always left off anyone’s list of controllable […] Read more

Crops, Potatoes

Maritime potato harvest a pleasant surprise

Late-season rains gave the crop a lift, but access to irrigation remains a concern for Island growers

By Andy Walker May 5, 2017

Reading Time: 4 minutes The 2016 harvest in the country’s largest potato-producing province proved to be a pleasant surprise. By mid-August, many growers in Prince Edward Island were starting to brace for a below-average harvest. A dry summer saw much of the crop, especially in the central part of the province, slow to size up and problems with both […] Read more

Crops, Reuters, Weather

California rules led to near 25 per cent cut in water use

By Sharon Bernstein April 4, 2016

Reading Time: 2 minutes Sacramento | Reuters –– Residents and businesses in drought-stricken California cut back water use by nearly 25 per cent from June 2015 through the end of February 2016 — enough to supply nearly six million people for a year, officials said Monday. The state’s first ever mandatory cutbacks in water use were imposed by Democratic […] Read more

Crops, Reuters, Weather

Drought exposes cracks in Australia’s acclaimed water market

By Colin Packham September 20, 2015

Reading Time: 3 minutes Sydney | Reuters — A pioneering Australian scheme to improve the management of water in the world’s driest inhabited continent is facing its first real test as an intensifying El Nino threatens crops and builds tensions between farmers and environmentalists. The three-year old management plan for the Murray-Darling basin, an area twice the size of […] Read more

U.S. grains: South American supply issues wane

U.S. livestock: Live cattle climb ahead of USDA report

Feed weekly outlook: Offshore demand still lifting Prairie barley

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