(Dave Bedard photo)

Bayer, Monsanto start asset sale toward merger clearance

Reading Time: 2 minutes Frankfurt | Reuters — German drug and crop chemical maker Bayer and U.S. seeds company Monsanto are launching asset sales worth roughly US$2.5 billion as they seek regulatory clearance for their US$66 billion merger, people close to the matter said. To kick off an auction process, Bayer’s advisors will send out information packages next week […] Read more

Concept of making money agriculture

Rebate roundup for Eastern Canada

A quick glimpse at programs and opportunities available to growers for 2017

Reading Time: 6 minutes With the planting season just weeks away, we’re putting together a “Rebate Roundup” for eastern Canadian growers with our overview of the rebates offered by industry. Some of the companies contacted for our new annual “Rebate Roundup” feature say they don’t offer rebates — they prefer to stick to simple prices. Other farm input suppliers […] Read more


Spraying machine working on the green field

Goodbye glyphosate?

A flood of cancer suits in the U.S. threatens to topple farmers’ most valuable herbicide

Reading Time: 6 minutes Last September I warned readers of a growing public backlash against glyphosate herbicide, and I wrote of the co-ordinated attack on glyphosate by Avaaz, an online activist community that is claiming credit for the refusal by European regulators to renew the licence for glyphosate, instead only granting an 18-month extension to the expiring licence. But […] Read more

Figure 1. Dicamba drift on a susceptible soybean crop. Symptoms will include cupping of trifoliate leaflets, shortening of internodes and a dark green colour.

Pest Patrol: Xtend soybeans, spray drift and controlling glyphosate-resistant fleabane

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

Reading Time: 2 minutes I want to plant Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans this season to control my glyphosate-resistant Canada fleabane. But I keep hearing about the increased risk of drift with the dicamba-based herbicides. Is this fear mongering, or do I need to pay special attention when applying herbicides containing dicamba? We can learn a lot about the […] Read more



Table 1: Enlist and Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybean response one week after application with glyphosate, dicamba, 2,4-D and Liberty (glufosinate). Note that the plant on the left is the control (unsprayed) while the plant to the right has been sprayed with one of the four herbicides.

Pest Patrol: Enlist vs. Extend

#PestPatrol with Mike Cowbrough, OMAFRA

Reading Time: 2 minutes What is the difference between Enlist and Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans, and how good are they at controlling glyphosate-resistant weeds? The key selling point of each new seed system is that they have tolerance to specific “auxinic” herbicides that traditionally have been used to control weeds in corn and cereals, and in theory should […] Read more


(Bayer.com)

Bayer, Monsanto confirm spending plans after meeting Trump

Reading Time: < 1 minute Frankfurt | Reuters –– Bayer and Monsanto said Tuesday they would spend at least half of their agriculture research and development budget in the U.S. over the next six years, following a meeting with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump last week. The two companies, which are awaiting approval of their agreed US$66 billion deal from Trump’s […] Read more

Close up of man reading at the digital tablet

Before you believe it

Because our vulnerability to misinformation is growing every day, the easy-to-use SMELL test needs to become like an app that we turn on every time we connect to the web, listen to a radio, or even talk to each other

Reading Time: 6 minutes If our food looks bad, tastes bad, or smells bad, we won’t eat it. So why don’t we treat information the same way? After all, we are told information is power. Information has value. Information is essential to modern society. So if information “smells” bad, shouldn’t we be wary of consuming it as well? Dr. […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Monsanto swings to profit on South American demand

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. seeds and agrochemicals company Monsanto, in the process of being bought by Germany’s Bayer for US$66 billion, swung to a quarterly profit, helped by higher demand from South America. Sales of soybe2an seeds and traits jumped 37 per cent as more farmers in South America sowed the company’s genetically modified […] Read more