Reading Time: 3 minutes The recent warm weather helped with both seeding and crop emergence. In terms of seeding progress, producers are five points ahead of the five year average of 94 and are currently sitting at over 99 per cent complete. Across the province emergence average is now at 72 which is also higher than the five year […] Read more
Dry weather stalls crop growth, pastures well below five-year average
Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of June 4
Do crops really grow better in the north?
Study aims to show processors and investors that northern vigour produces superior crops
Reading Time: 3 minutes Some call it northern vigour. Others call it the northern advantage. And now, one group of Alberta researchers are setting out to prove what some farmers have been saying all along — that crops really do grow better up north. “In this part of Alberta, we have 19 hours of daily sunlight in the summer, […] Read more
Feed weekly outlook: Barley bids rise on weather woes, tight old-crop supplies
MarketsFarm — Tight old-crop supplies and mounting weather concerns over new-crop production are keeping feed grain prices well supported in Western Canada as end-users work to ration supplies. “We’ve seen a very real weather market emerge in the last few weeks,” said Brandon Motz of CorNine Commodities at Lacombe, Alta., pointing to wet conditions hampering […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder market absorbs double-edged sword
Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded $3 to as much as $6 lower. The feed grains market is writing the story for the feeder market. August feeder cattle futures lost $10 this past week and U.S. cash feeder prices were also down US$4-$6 compared to seven days earlier. Ideas are that […] Read more
Dry grain while the sun shines — harnessing solar power for drying grain
Robert Baerg has gained some peace of mind with novel grain dryer
Reading Time: 6 minutes Robert Baerg was having coffee with a neighbour one rainy harvest about 15 years ago when they got to talking about their old grain dryer. It was a real headache, that dryer — chewing through horsepower to dry tough grain far too slowly, and then they still had to cool it. It took both neighbours […] Read more
SIDE-SWIPED: The stars are not lining up for Alberta farmers
A series of unforeseeable events has suddenly set the stage for a return to the bad old days of the 1980s
Reading Time: 5 minutes A pig disease that’s been around for a century. A new ‘tech cold war’ between Beijing and Washington. A mercurial American president who calls himself “the tariff man.” These are the unlikely set of factors that are threatening to pummel grain markets — and the incomes of Alberta’s grain producers. “I am not looking at […] Read more
Major crops in Alberta nearly all seeded, pastures see delayed growth
Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of May 28
Reading Time: 4 minutes Relatively good weather over the past week has resulted in good seeding progress. As of May 28, provincially about 91 per cent of major crops have been seeded, compared to 72 per cent a week ago and the 5-year average (2014-2018) of 79 per cent. Regionally, seeding progress was most advanced at 95 per cent […] Read more
Rancher finds success after realizing he had things backwards
Morrie Goetjen spent years focusing on his cattle, but he now says it’s healthier soil that is the key
Reading Time: 4 minutes What do a policeman and cattle producer have in common? Probably not much, unless you are Morrie Goetjen. The Calgary-area producer has been farming full time since the mid-’80s but since retirement has been able to really focus on his cattle operation. Goetjen has land both northwest of Calgary and northeast of Cremona. The two […] Read more
Feed weekly outlook: Weather buoys grain prices
MarketsFarm –– A dry spring on the Prairies, coupled with intensely wet weather south of the border, has frustrated producers and supported higher feed grain prices. Barley prices have rallied “quite strongly” due to dry weather observed across most of the Prairies, combined with tight supplies from previous years, said Nelson Neumann of Agfinity in […] Read more
Klassen: Rising feed grains weigh on feeder market
Compared to the previous week, western Canadian feeder cattle markets traded steady to $3 lower over the past week. In some cases, calves were down $4 to as much as $6. Rising feed grain costs weighed on the overall feeder complex. Feed barley in southern Alberta traded in the range of $265-$275 per tonne delivered, […] Read more