Manitoba’s former education minister has been pressed into service as the new agriculture critic for the provincial legislature’s official opposition. Wab Kinew, who was elected Saturday as the leader of the opposition New Democrats, on Thursday named James Allum, the MLA for the Winnipeg riding of Fort Garry-Riverview, as the critic for agriculture. Allum will […] Read more
Manitoba NDP names new ag critic
Bayer says needs more time for Monsanto deal approval
Monheim, Germany | Reuters — German drugs and pesticides group Bayer said Tuesday it was now likely to be early next year before it can complete its US$66 billion deal to acquire U.S. group Monsanto, later than previously expected. The European Commission has been scrutinizing the proposed takeover with a deadline of Jan. 8 but […] Read more
UFA to shut down outdoor outfitter business
Alberta farmers’ co-operative UFA is set to get out of an “increasingly competitive” space in the retail sector by closing its outdoor supply chain Wholesale Sports. The co-operative, which bought what was then a seven-store chain in 2008, announced Thursday it would start inventory liquidation sales Friday at all 12 of its remaining Wholesale Sports […] Read more
Storms worsen summer slump in U.S. diesel supply
New York | Reuters — U.S. diesel stockpiles did something this year that has never happened in the summer before: They shrank. And that was even before Hurricane Harvey landed, knocking out a quarter of U.S. refining capacity, crippling production of fuel products. Thanks to surprising summer demand, particularly from exports, inventories of diesel, jet […] Read more
U.S. wants NAFTA five-year sunset provision
Washington | Reuters — U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Thursday that the United States was seeking to add a five-year sunset provision to the North American Free Trade Agreement to provide a regular, “systematic re-examination” of the trade pact. Ross told a forum hosted by Politico that both he and U.S. Trade Representative Robert […] Read more
Canada’s soils still degrading, albeit more slowly
The rate of degradation of soils in Canada has slowed, but it still is happening at a significant rate and there is still a lot to learn. There are no soil-perfect systems yet for crop production, attendees at the Summit on Canadian Soil Health held recently in Guelph heard repeatedly. No-till farming has declined in […] Read more
Alberta harvest reaches 32 per cent, some areas behind five-year average
Alberta crop conditions as of September 5
Reading Time: 2 minutes Harvest operations continue to benefit from the warm, dry weather which has encompassed much of the province. Light precipitation did fall in northerly regions but amounts were small causing minimal delays. Harvest progress has advanced to 32 per cent of the province completed primarily on the progress in the South and Central regions. Harvest progress […] Read more
Census finds more technology and rotational grazing on ranches
Reading Time: < 1 minute More than half (52 per cent) of beef cattle farms say they use computer or laptops for farm management while 39 per cent indicated they use smartphones or tablets for farm management, according to the 2016 Census of Agriculture data. Some form of GPS technology is being used on 24 per cent of beef operations, […] Read more
AgriRecovery in place for farms in B.C. wildfire zones
Farmers and ranchers whose operations were hit or evacuated during British Columbia’s particularly destructive wildfire season can expect up to $20 million in AgriRecovery funds toward repair, rebuilding and livestock feeding costs. The federal and B.C. governments on Tuesday laid out more details for the 60-40 cost-shared program, which was announced in principle in mid-August. […] Read more
Solar-powered irrigation proving its worth for Alberta operation
Cory and Lindsay Nelson are the first in the province to use solar for large-scale irrigation — and they’re happy they did
Reading Time: 4 minutes Cory and Lindsay Nelson have always embraced innovation and after attending a talk on solar energy put on by a producer group, their interest was piqued. So the brothers approached Enmax and a Lethbridge solar installation company called Solar Optix to look at their electrical bills. The numbers seemed to pan out, and it looked […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
