Reading Time: < 1 minute Craig Shaw is the recipient of the seventh annual Alberta Pulse Industry Innovator Award. The fourth-generation Lacombe-area producer, who retired from farming in 2016, was the inaugural vice-president of Alberta Pulse Growers Commission in 1989, becoming the group’s president a year later. He began growing peas in 1984 (to feed his brother’s hogs) and became […] Read more
Alberta pulse pioneer honoured
Pulse weekly outlook: Normal yields expected for dry beans in 2021-22
MarketsFarm — The number of acres seeded for dry beans in Canada in 2020-21 was at its highest level in more than a decade. But this upcoming crop year, acreage and yields are expected to return to normal. Dennis Lange, pulse specialist for Manitoba Agriculture at Altona, said he hadn’t seen yields like last year’s […] Read more
Grain prices reach near-record highs with no end in sight
They could go higher yet, but take advantage now to lock in some of next year’s crop, say experts
Reading Time: 4 minutes The best cure for high prices is prices — as the old saying goes — but Canadian grain producers may be able to ride the current highs for a little longer yet. “We’re approaching all-time highs in a number of commodities right now, and historically, the faster things go up, the faster they inevitably go […] Read more
Visions of the future: Canada’s crop sector looks ahead
Four crop industry leaders share their hopeful vision for their sectors in the coming decade
Reading Time: 7 minutes As we leave 2020 behind us, it isn’t hard to see hope on the horizon. That’s the view of four producers who sit on the boards of the province’s big crop commissions and were asked to share their vision for their sectors in the next 10 years. More pulses, please Shane Strydhorst’s vision of a […] Read more
Superstar or stinker? Merits of new seed varieties can all depend on your farm
There are lots of new varieties with ‘really, really good genetics’ but they might not be a fit for you
Reading Time: 6 minutes It’s that time of year again. With a pen in hand, you flip through the pages, circling what looks good, hoping you’ll get what you want and praying that what you get will be as good as it looks on paper. Poring over the new Alberta Seed Guide may feel a little like flipping through […] Read more
Let’s get intense — cattle producer amps the density in his system
Ryan Boyd will put 400 yearlings on a quarter-acre as part of a system to boost forage productivity
Reading Time: 3 minutes Ryan Boyd has travelled the world to see how producers graze their cattle, and has figured out how to make his cattle work for him. Strip grazing, high stocking densities and a diverse range of plant species are at the core of the system developed by the Manitoba farmer, who as a 2019 Nuffield Scholar […] Read more
Improving soil is a long process involving lots of trial and error
Soil health principles are well known but putting them into practice takes time and patience
Reading Time: 4 minutes Everyone is in favour of improving soil health and there are a lot of recommended practices for doing that. But it’s when the rubber meets the road that things get complicated — and change takes time and patience. That was a major theme of Alberta producer Andy Kirschenman’s virtual presentation at the recent Farm Forum […] Read more
Four-way Seeds Canada merger approved
Four organizations to amalgamate in February without CSGA on board
A merger of four Canadian seed industry organizations has been cleared to proceed without its fifth partner. Members of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency (CPTA), Commercial Seed Analysts Association of Canada (CSAAC), Canadian Seed Institute (CSI) and Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) have voted in favour of amalgamation, the groups announced Wednesday. An inaugural board […] Read more
Suspended pulse crop handlers partly reinstated
Companies can't buy or receive more grain from growers
Three suspended pulse and special crop handling and processing companies are again licensed to move Canadian grain — but not to buy any. The Canadian Grain Commission announced Monday it has reinstated the licences for Globeways Canada Inc. and its subsidiaries: Canpulse Foods Ltd., a pulse and canary seed processor at Kindersley, Sask., and Global […] Read more
Farmers retrieve beans from Global Grain
That will cut the amount of security money needed to cover what farmers are owed
The Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) is still tallying how much farmers are owed by Global Grain Canada Ltd. at Plum Coulee, Man. for dry beans they delivered to the firm but weren’t paid for. However, the potential for farmers not getting what they are owed has been reduced, CGC spokesman Remi Gosselin said in an […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
