Warm weather aids seeding, but winter still lingers

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — A late spring snowstorm will delay seeding operations in northern Saskatchewan, but better weather across most other areas of the Prairies is allowing producers to make headway getting this year’s crop in the ground. Up to 30 centimetres of snow fell in and around Saskatoon on Saturday and Sunday, knocking out power […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola drifts downward in rangebound trading

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada –– ICE Futures Canada canola contracts chopped around in sideways trading during the week ended Wednesday, before settling slightly lower. Activity was volatile with values generally staying within a $10 range, analysts said. Gains in the U.S. soy complex were responsible for much of the support canola saw over the five-day period, along […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Some farmers already seeding in southern Alberta

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Some farmers in southern Alberta are seeding earlier than normal this spring, thanks to some recent warmer weather. “Some guys are just starting to turn a wheel in southern Alberta,” Harry Brook, crop specialist with Alberta’s provincial Ag-Info Centre in Stettler, said Thursday. Soil temperatures are still not very warm, so more […] Read more

Prairie farmers eye early start to seeding

Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters –– Western Canadian farmers, some of whom could not plant crops last year due to soggy soil, may be able to get a head-start on sowing their fields this spring. Canada is the world’s biggest canola exporter and the second largest wheat exporter, but its flat western provinces — Manitoba, Saskatchewan and […] Read more


Electric seed meter

Electric seed metering for your planter

Among the hottest new innovations for corn, these electric seed meters are catching on. The secret’s out!

Reading Time: 5 minutes Precision agriculture just keeps getting more and more precise. The industry has seen the advent and refinement of yield monitors and variable-rate application, and now it has moved on to improved singulation in planters, automated down-pressure, and higher planting speeds. Most of those innovations have come in response to a growing time crunch. The windows […] Read more

soybean field

A look back at thicker soybean stands

Is 2014 proof that we’ve been going in the wrong direction with soybean populations?

Reading Time: 6 minutes Sometimes it’s best to take a quick look in the rear-view mirror before considering where to go next. In farming, of course, it isn’t that simple. The weather next year will never be exactly the same as it was this year, and pest and disease pressures will vary too. Still, it’s essential to look for […] Read more


honeybee on a canola flower

Neonicotinoids for pest management

Evidence in support of neonics is impressive, if you take the time to understand it

Reading Time: 6 minutes Another summer is over, another harvest is done and now the key decisions are starting to loom for next year’s crop. The canola page in the seed catalogue is open, but whether the varieties on display are OPs or hybrids, herbicide tolerant, Argentine or Polish, most of them will come with a seed coating containing an […] Read more