Manitoba’s incoming Progressive Conservative government has tapped one of its former critics on the agriculture and food file as its new minister of agriculture. Ralph Eichler, the MLA for the Interlake-area constituency of Lakeside since 2003, was sworn in Tuesday along with Premier Brian Pallister and 11 other cabinet ministers at Winnipeg’s Canadian Museum for […] Read more
Tories’ ex-ag critic named Manitoba ag minister
Expert suggestions for the best on-farm research
Here are some key considerations to get the best results from your on-farm trials
Reading Time: 2 minutes When it comes to on-farm research, the key things to remember are preparation, location, and repetition. “The rigour you have to use goes up considerably if you want to turn it into research,” said Dan Heaney, research and development vice-president with Farmers Edge. Long, narrow configurations work better than block configurations for check strips, Heaney […] Read more
Wet-dry cycle drives up salinity and cuts yields
Invisible soil salinity affects 22 million acres on the Prairies, cutting yields by a quarter
Reading Time: 3 minutes Another dry spring could leave producers feeling salty over increased salinity in their soil. “This year and part of last year, we’ve started to see more salinity showing up,” said Jack Payne, western Prairies regional agronomist with Farmers Edge. “Saline seeps tend to form more readily after we’ve had a series of wet years followed […] Read more
Economic study shows irrigation pays big dividends
Irrigation adds about $3.6 billion to the provincial economy each year and has the potential to do even more
Reading Time: 2 minutes In these tough economic times, irrigation is a good news story. Irrigation in Alberta is attracting businesses, creating jobs, generating revenue for governments, and bolstering the economy. How do we know this? The Alberta Irrigation Projects Association commissioned a study to look at exactly that. While people in the irrigation industry understand the benefits and […] Read more
Drought years are proof that there’s more ‘crop per drop’
Two very dry years show that investments by both farmers and irrigation districts have greatly increased water-use efficiency
Reading Time: 3 minutes They were the two driest growing seasons in recent times — but when you look at water used for irrigation, 2001 and 2015 are very different. Last year, the amount of water diverted by the Eastern Irrigation District (EID) was almost 200,000 acre-feet less than in 2001, even though the number of acres under irrigation, […] Read more
Alberta acres need one good soaking rain
Reading Time: < 1 minute Although over-winter precipitation accumulations were well below normal across most of Alberta, total over-winter precipitation deficits do not exceed 70 millimetres, even in the driest areas. “From a cropping perspective, these shortfalls can effectively be eased by one good soaking rain, or a few large spring snowstorms,” says Ralph Wright of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. […] Read more
Klassen: Limited buying interest softens feeder market
Just when I thought feeder cattle prices were stabilizing, once again the unexpected occurs. A sharp rally in U.S. grain futures, along with weaker fed cattle prices, caused western Canadian feeder cattle to trade $6-$12 lower compared to week-ago levels. Auction markets reported limited buying interest, with often only two or three larger feedlots stepping […] Read more
California communities beg for relief from drought restrictions
Sacramento | Reuters — California communities where a wet winter has filled reservoirs and begun ameliorating the state’s catastrophic four-year drought begged water regulators on Wednesday to reduce or eliminate emergency conservation measures imposed last year. Facing pushback from aggravated consumers under the ongoing rules, water utilities say they will have little credibility asking for […] Read more
Venezuela ordered to pay U.K. firm for ranch takeovers
Caracas | Reuters –– An international arbitration centre has ordered Venezuela to pay British cattle company Vestey Group nearly US$100 million for the nationalization of cattle ranches, pilling fresh pressure on the cash-strapped leftist government. Venezuela’s late president Hugo Chavez in 2005 sent in soldiers to seize major ranches and repopulate rural areas largely abandoned […] Read more
Canada’s farmers seen seeding less canola than expected
Reuters — Canadian farmers intend to seed less canola than expected, and will sow record-large areas with pulse crops, according to the government’s first farmer survey of crop sowings for 2016, released on Thursday. Wheat seedings are also expected to decline, but not as much as traders and analysts expected on average. Statistics Canada estimated that […] Read more
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