Reading Time: 4 minutes A lot of people who live on farms have off-farm jobs. But very few of those off-farm jobs involve wearing a tuxedo. However, cellist Victor Pipkin opted for his work coveralls and boots for a video of a solo mini-concert performed on his hobby farm near Onoway. Since the pandemic hit, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra […] Read more
Coveralls and a tuxedo — symphony cellist has a second life on the farm
Vilsack expected to return as USDA secretary
Washington/Chicago | Reuters — U.S. President-elect Joe Biden plans to nominate former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack for agriculture secretary, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Biden transition office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report. Vilsack, who led the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under […] Read more
Farmers protest across India against Modi’s farm market reforms
New Delhi/Mumbai | Reuters — Farmers’ protests against new laws liberalizing agricultural markets spread across India on Tuesday, as farm organizations called for a nationwide strike after inconclusive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. In eastern and western states, farmers blocked roads and squatted on railway tracks, delaying hordes of people getting to work, […] Read more
India considers changing new farm laws after mass protests
New Delihi | Reuters — India’s government is considering rolling back some parts of its agricultural reforms after they triggered the biggest protests by farmers in years, officials said on Friday. Tens of thousands of farmers were out on the streets around Delhi again on Friday, rallying against three laws that the government says are […] Read more
Peru farm protests grip country, turn deadly
'There are no harvests, there is nothing'
Lima | Reuters — Protests by farm workers demanding better wages in Peru raged on for a fourth day Thursday, spreading north into key agricultural areas of the Andean nation, derailing harvests of some crops, snarling transport of produce and leaving at least one dead. Peruvian interim President Francisco Sagasti called the death of a […] Read more
AgriStability proposal could have hidden cost, Pedersen warns
Manitoba's ag minister warns Bibeau's plan may hurt crop insurance, AgriInvest funding
Ottawa’s proposal for an improved AgriStability program could give farmers short-term gain for long-term pain, Manitoba’s agriculture minister Blaine Pedersen warns. At the online federal-provincial-territorial agriculture ministers’ meeting on Friday, federal Agriculture Minister Marie Claude Bibeau proposed dropping AgriStability’s maximum reference margin, and increasing the compensation rate from 70 to 80 per cent retroactively this […] Read more
No BRM breakthrough reached at ministers’ meeting
AgMins fail to find solution to business risk management program woes
No consensus on changes to business risk managements (BRM) programming was reached during the latest round of federal-provincial-territorial agriculture ministers’ meetings. After the meetings ended Friday, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau explained Ottawa was willing to maintain the current cost sharing of the programs at a 60-40 split between her government and the provinces. Bibeau’s […] Read more
U.S. puts duties on phosphate from Morocco, Russia
Reuters — The U.S. Department of Commerce said Tuesday it would set preliminary duties on phosphate fertilizer imports from Russia and Morocco, after launching an investigation to determine if producers in these countries were receiving unfair subsidies. The department set preliminary duties of 23.46 per cent on imports from Morocco’s OCP Group and other producers […] Read more
Buhler pulls Farm King manufacturing back to Canada
Work to halt at Minnesota plant early next year
Winnipeg farm equipment maker Buhler Industries is relocating its Farm King manufacturing work back to Canada from the U.S. this winter. After consolidating its U.S. manufacturing this summer into one plant at Willmar, Minn., about 140 km west of Minneapolis, the company said Thursday it will also halt production at Willmar in early 2021. Buhler, […] Read more
Fall fertilizer prices offer more good news for Prairie growers
Prices for urea, phosphate and anhydrous ammonia are all at the lower end of their normal range
Prices for urea, phosphate and anhydrous ammonia are all at the lower end of their normal range
Reading Time: 4 minutes Fertilizer prices have seen some ups and downs over the past six months, but the situation heading into winter looks favourable. “When we look at the overall input markets so far in 2020, we see that they’ve kind of eased up. For producers right now, that’s a pretty good spot to be in,” said Craig […] Read moreCyber-Savvy Farmer
