Dry weather sees good seeding progress

Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of May 21, 2019

Reading Time: 4 minutes Since April 1, the western parts of the province received at least 40 mm of accumulated precipitation, while areas in the northern parts of the Peace Region, eastern parts of the North West, most parts of the Central, and eastern parts of the Southern Region have seen less than 20 mm of rain. Frost was […] Read more

Chickpeas. (CalypsoArt/iStock/Getty Images)

Pulse weekly outlook: Chickpea prices remain low, future bright

MarketsFarm — Lower prices are expected to lead to a drop in Canadian chickpea acres in 2019, but the future is bright for the crop as new consumer markets gain popularity. Seeded acres for chickpeas almost quadrupled between 2017 and 2018, rising from 160,000 to 442,900, respectively. Since inventory from the 2018 growing season is […] Read more


Soil scientist David Lobb has criss-crossed the country to talk about soil health, but the issue isn’t getting nearly the attention it deserves, says the University of Manitoba professor.

Soil degradation the forgotten issue

Reducing tillage and summerfallow hasn’t fixed a problem that is costing farmers billions every year

Reading Time: 3 minutes Soil degradation in Canada is causing a huge economic loss — but few people are paying attention. That includes farmers, even though degraded soil is significantly reducing their yields, according to University of Manitoba soil scientist David Lobb. “Soil erosion accounts for a loss of about 10 per cent,” he said. “Farmers are only getting […] Read more

Two years ago, Chris Chivilo put a new pulse fractioning plant at Bowden on hold.
But now he’s “taking up the torch again.”

Prairie pulse processing still in next-year country

But that could change as ‘supercluster’ hands out first $40 million to spur processing on the Prairies

Reading Time: 4 minutes Chris Chivilo was nearly ready to break ground on a brand new pulse fractioning plant in Bowden when the bottom fell out of the market. “Two and a half years ago, we got very close, and then the pulse market went to hell,” said Chivilo, president of W.A. Grain and Pulse Solutions. “So we put […] Read more


Warm, dry weather advances seeding; crop emergence in early stages

Alberta Crop Report: Conditions as of May 14, 2019

Reading Time: 3 minutes The warm dry weather has attributed to substantial seeding progress provincially. Last week’s average on all crops was slightly above 16 per cent while this week’s numbers for major crops is 42 per cent complete, which is sizably higher than the five year average of 25. Across Alberta, 72 per cent of peas are in […] Read more

Dean Dias.

New interim CEO for Cigi

Reading Time: < 1 minute Dean Dias has been named interim CEO of the Canadian International Grains Institute, by Cigi chair Kevin Bender. Dias, who will take over from JoAnne Buth, joined Cigi in 2009 and in his current position liaises with the Canadian value chain and international customers. “In his progressive roles at Cigi, Dias has gained the knowledge […] Read more


Tim Hortons is testing three plant-based breakfast sandwich options in the Canadian market. (CNW Group/Tim Hortons)

Tim Hortons to offer Beyond Meat for breakfast

The plant-based meat substitute that’s made its way to the menus of burger chains such as A+W in Canada and Carl’s Jr. in the U.S. is about to test itself against the Tim Hortons breakfast crowd. The coffee-and-doughnut chain announced Wednesday it’s now testing three types of breakfast sandwiches at “select” stores in Canada using […] Read more




DowDuPont announced Corteva as the name for its merged agribusiness in February 2018, ahead of its planned June 2019 spinoff. (Lisa Guenther photo)

Corteva cleared for spinoff

The combined agriculture businesses of Dow Chemical and DuPont have cleared the last of their regulatory hurdles to go ahead with their formal June 1 spinoff. The Delaware-based agribusiness, under the name Corteva, Inc., is scheduled to begin “when-issued” trading on the NYSE on May 24, and “regular way” trading on June 3, under the […] Read more