Reading Time: 3 minutes Linda Gorim’s goal for her agronomy students is to give them a hands-on experience. “My goal is to get them dirty, and I get them really dirty,” said Gorim, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta and the Western Grains Research Foundation chair in cropping systems. Her field crop agronomy course was created to […] Read more
Farmers and field trips provide something textbooks can’t offer
Feed weekly outlook: Barley, wheat prices continue downward
Oats, canola meal also bound for feedlots
MarketsFarm — As colder temperatures descend onto the Prairies, buying activity for feed barley and wheat was just as frigid. “A lot of guys are fairly caught up with purchasing,” said Mike Fleischhauer of Eagle Commodities Inc. in Lethbridge. “You see the prices of wheat and barley start to trickle down a little bit. Corn’s […] Read more
Few yield boosts, but lots of food for thought in farmer-driven trials
With Plot2Farm, producers themselves answer key questions on emerging practices
Reading Time: 4 minutes Boosting nitrogen in barley, wide- versus narrow-row spacing, and three-way split nitrogen applications were in the spotlight in producer-driven on-farm trials in 2022. Although increased yield wasn’t in the cards in several cases, moments of clarity may have made up for it. Plot2Farm is a field-scale research program in which farmers themselves conduct the kind […] Read more
Feed weekly outlook: Prices slip during quiet January
Shortages of trucks, drivers still trouble cattle sector
MarketsFarm — With January being a quiet time there’s isn’t a whole lot of direction for feed grains, according to Brandon Motz of CorNine Commodities at Lacombe, Alta. Prices for feed barley and wheat have been slowing slipping, he said — especially with feedlots not having to buy and farmers not needing to sell — […] Read more
Will there be any new varieties in your line-up this year?
Reading Time: 6 minutes New varieties often promise higher yields, more robust resistance, better standability and other benefits. But there can also be trade-offs. “Sometimes a new variety comes out and maybe the yield is better, but did you lose anything with that variety, whether it’s protein or maturity?” asked Greg Stamp of Stamp Seeds in Enchant. “And then […] Read more
Find the best bang for your fertilizer buck
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta’s wheat and barley commissions have a nitrogen rate of return calculator available on their website. The calculator, developed by well-known research agronomist Rigas Karamanos, “can be used to evaluate different net return per acre scenarios which compare different N sources and costs, various crop prices and soil test N levels,” Alberta Wheat and Barley […] Read more
Goodbye and good riddance — 2022 was not kind to cattle feeders
The COVID hangover, more cattle on feed, and lots of labour woes all contributed to a year to forget
Reading Time: 4 minutes The fed cattle sector couldn’t catch a break in 2022 and it wasn’t any one thing that created the problem. “This has been going on for sure since February/March,” said Jacob Bueckert, who operates Driland Feeders near Warner and is chair of the Alberta Cattle Feeders Association. “I don’t know if we ever fully caught […] Read more
Feed weekly outlook: Corn imports still weigh on domestic feed market
MarketsFarm — Ample corn imports from the U.S. continue to keep the western Canadian feed grain market under pressure, with barley bids in Lethbridge trending lower through the early days of 2023. “We started the year with cash barley trading at roughly $450 (per tonne) in Lethbridge, it’s since declined to roughly $435,” said Jim […] Read more
Feed weekly outlook: Little price movement for feed grains
MarketsFarm — With the holiday season come and gone, feed grain buyers were getting back into the swing of things at the start of 2023, according to one trader. “I think January will probably fill up pretty quickly as we’re in the first week of January and we’ve been booked into January for a bit,” […] Read more
Book celebrates farmers who ‘never gave up the fight’
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Western Barley Growers Association has produced a coffee-table book on its history and how the organization, headquartered in Airdrie, has made a difference. The book, titled Western Barley’s Legacy, covers more than four decades of the group’s history, from its formation in “a small community hall in Carseland” to its efforts to “challenge the […] Read more
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