Prairie drought reaches tipping point

Prairie drought reaches tipping point

MarketsFarm — The Prairie provinces have been under the influence of a large ridge of high pressure for a number of weeks, which has produced prolonged dryness with little precipitation. That high pressure system has pushed low-pressure, precipitation-carrying systems to the south, where the U.S. Midwest has already received significant rain. Environment Canada estimated the […] Read more



Plants that don't get enough moisture are usually stunted and set seed early.

Don’t let those drought-stressed forages go to seed

You won’t get a lot of hay from that first cut but it gives you a chance of getting a second one

Reading Time: 2 minutes Determining the right time to cut a hay stand could mean the difference between harvesting a second cut or the stand becoming dormant, says a provincial forage and beef specialist. “A lack of sufficient moisture stresses plants, and that is certainly apparent this spring,” said Karin Lindquist. “Plants that do not get enough moisture are […] Read more

Seeding in Alberta complete, forage growers struggle with dry weather

Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of June 11

Reading Time: 3 minutes With the exception of a few feed crops, seeding is essentially finished in Alberta. Producers are actively spraying and scouting fields. Areas of concern vary from smoke and frost in the north to flea beetles and cutworms in other pockets of the province. In the week ending June 11 there were rainfall events providing 15 […] Read more


Bayer’s cross symbol hangs in a terminal at Frankfurt International Airport. (Typhoonski/iStock Editorial/Getty Images)

Bayer to invest $7.5 billion in new herbicides

Berlin | Reuters — Bayer said it would invest five billion euros (C$7.5 billion) in developing new weedkillers and reducing its environmental impact by 30 per cent by 2030, as it seeks to address the fallout from U.S. class-action litigation over glyphosate. “While glyphosate will continue to play an important role in agriculture and in […] Read more

Beef web resource being preserved

Beef web resource being preserved

Reading Time: < 1 minute Information that had been available on foragebeef.ca is gradually being added to beefresearch.ca. The Beef Cattle Research Council has been reviewing “hundreds of pages” of information that have been available on foragebeef.ca, an Alberta Agriculture website that the ministry is no longer able to maintain. The council is updating information before moving it over to […] Read more


U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a visit to Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy in Council Bluffs, Iowa on June 11, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

Trump simplifies reviews of genetically modified farm products

Council Bluffs | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday directing federal agencies to streamline the review process for agricultural biotechnology including genetically modified livestock and seeds. Trump signed the order during a visit to an ethanol plant in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The executive order, he said, would “speed up […] Read more