greg stamp and rob graf at a winter wheat field

Build your farm with these entrepreneurial skills 

Summer Series: Today’s farm owners need to be on top of their game like never before — and it all starts with the right skills

Reading Time: 9 minutes “Farming is an important, low-margin business that has got to be fine-tuned like a guitar to make beautiful music.” This insight comes from Kim McConnell, someone who knows about business success — and how to make that beautiful music. After a long career in the agriculture industry, the former founder of AdFarm is still mentoring […] Read more






Lloyd Affleck.

Summer Series: Best advice from a retired seed grower 

[Best Advice] What's your greatest asset?

Reading Time: 2 minutes What’s your greatest farm asset? Lloyd Affleck hesitated when an advisor asked him this question, but the answer was something all farmers should consider.– April Stewart, CG Associate Editor Lloyd Affleck is connected. He’s a retired pedigreed seed grower and chair of Canterra Seed’s board of directors and he has served other industry boards and […] Read more


(Laura Rance photo)

Corteva cuts U.S. jobs while exiting Russia

California plant produces seed for sunflower growers

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Seeds and pesticides company Corteva will eliminate U.S. jobs next year, as its exit from Russia reduces demand for its commercial sunflower seeds produced in California, the company said on Monday. Corteva will cut 51 positions from a Woodland, California facility, run by its Pioneer Hi-Bred International subsidiary, that supplied Europe […] Read more

(iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Second Seeds Canada merger vote to proceed sans CSGA

Seed Growers membership had voted against amalgamation deal

Reading Time: 2 minutes A proposal to combine Canada’s seed industry groups into a single organization, to be dubbed Seeds Canada, will be subject to a new vote, this time with one less group on board. The Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA), Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA); Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC) and Canadian Seed Institute announced […] Read more


(Jack Dykinga photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

National seeds sector groups put merger plan to vote

New organization, if approved, would be called Seeds Canada

Reading Time: 2 minutes Members of five national seed sector organizations are set to vote this summer on their proposed amalgamation under a single banner, Seeds Canada. A “detailed ratification package” has gone out to members of the Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA), Canadian Seed Institute (CSI), Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA), Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA) and Commercial […] Read more

Most of the varieties covered by PBR are from the public sector, and most are cereal varieties.

Plant Breeders Rights not so simple

New regulations give PBR regs more teeth, but breeders still want you to follow the law out of self-interest, not fear

Reading Time: 6 minutes When Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) got a major facelift two years ago, the seed trade in Canada responded with information campaigns saying that all was for the best. Upgrades in intellectual property protection weren’t a cash grab, farmers were told. Instead, they showed the international community that Canada takes property protection very seriously. That recognition, […] Read more