A program encouraging Prairie farmers to improve waterfowl habitat by flipping cropland into hayland or pasture will continue the same this spring, except in Manitoba. The DUC/CPS forage program, offered by Ducks Unlimited Canada and Crop Production Services (CPS) Canada, will still see growers in Saskatchewan and Alberta get a rebate of $100 for each […] Read more
Ducks Unlimited shifts forage incentive for Manitoba
FBI sets up checkpoints around Oregon refuge after deadly confrontation
Reuters — U.S. and state officials in Oregon on Wednesday set up checkpoints around Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, where an armed group pledged to prolong its standoff with the government a day after one protester was shot and eight others were arrested. Authorities said the new security involves a series of checkpoints along key routes […] Read more
LIVE BLOG: Alberta FarmTech 2016
Event begins Tuesday, Jan. 26 and runs to Thursday, Jan. 28
Reading Time: < 1 minute Edmonton’s EXPO Centre at Northlands is the place to be for producers and the public during Alberta FarmTech 2016, running from Jan. 26 to Jan. 28. Want up-to-the-minute information on what’s going on at FarmTech? Check out our live blog page here! FarmTech features more than 50 sessions and a world class lineup of speakers providing […] Read more
Ontario weighs mandatory beekeeping practices in draft plan
Fresh off limiting farmers’ use of neonicotinoid seed treatments, the Ontario government now wants public comment on further moves it might make to improve the health of bees and other pollinators in the province. Among the “potential actions” up for consideration in the province’s new draft action plan are the use of public lands to expand […] Read more
Want to up your grazing game? Disrupt, diversify, and stock high
Use a rich mix of forage species, build organic matter, and fight that urge to do the same things year after year, says expert
Reading Time: 3 minutes More of the same is not a good thing when it comes to pastures. “When you have a monoculture above the ground, you have a monoculture below the ground,” said grazing consultant Allen Williams. “In most monoculture situations, you have mined out many of the available minerals within the first two or three strata of […] Read more
Doing it right pays off for Vandervalk family
Reading Time: 3 minutes Being recognized by their peers is an honour, but the Vandervalk family has also discovered that good environmental practices pay off in a big way. “We found out that we can make more money and do less work by doing rotational grazing on what we used to call hayland,” said Jack Vandervalk, a recipient of […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Retreating equities undermine CME live cattle
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed lower on Wednesday, pressured by falling U.S. stock futures amid the unrelenting slide in crude oil prices, traders said. February live cattle ended 2.05 cents/lb. lower at 127.25 cents, and April closed down 1.975 cents at 128.175 (all figures US$). Bullish CME live cattle […] Read more
Full lineup at AFA conference
Event runs from Jan. 21-22 in Red Deer
Reading Time: < 1 minute This year’s Alberta Federation of Agriculture’s AGM features presentations on emerging technologies; climate change; and farm labour and safety legislation. The event runs from Jan. 21-22 in Red Deer. Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier will speak Jan. 22 and lawyer Tom Ross will give a legal perspective on Alberta’s farm labour legislation. Other speakers include researcher […] Read more
Klassen: Uncertainty causes feeder market volatility
Western Canadian feeder cattle prices traded steady to as much as $10 lower compared to week-ago levels. Feedlot hands are contending with adverse winter conditions and cattle travelling farther distances were down $6 to $12 in non-major feeding regions. Feeder markets were slightly softer Monday through Wednesday; however, feedlot operators were quick to back away […] Read more
Investor says land-grab fears not justified
Bonnefield Financial has raised more than $300 million to buy and lease back Canadian farmland
Reading Time: 5 minutes We’ve all heard it: rumblings in coffee shops and at conferences about land grabbers buying up good farmland. And those rumblings have only grown louder over the past few years, as investors such as the Canadian Pension Plan buy large parcels of cropland in the Prairies. But by and large, those fears can be put […] Read more