Reading Time: < 1 minute Last week just about all agriculture lands across the province received decent rain, with most areas receiving over 10mm. Three major areas received over 20 mm including western Peace, the land base along the Saskatchewan border stretching from Cold Lake down to the U.S. border and a large area west of highway 2 between Edson […] Read more
Seeding 99 per cent complete, soil moisture conditions improve
Alberta crop conditions as of June 5, 2018
Crop Protection ‘Blue Book’ goes mobile
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Blue Book has long been popular reading in the homes of Alberta farmers — and now they can read it anywhere on their smartphones. The Crop Protection book (as it is officially known) is updated annually for previously registered products and includes newly registered pesticide products — herbicides, pesticides, seed treatments, and foliar fungicides. […] Read more
CP conductors, engineers to get nine per cent raise over four years
Montreal | Reuters — Canadian Pacific Railway conductors and locomotive engineers will get a nine per cent salary hike over four years as part of a tentative agreement reached last week with the Teamsters, spokesmen from both the union and CP said on Wednesday. The agreement, which must first be ratified by members to go […] Read more
With deal to close this week, Bayer to retire Monsanto name
Frankfurt | Reuters — Germany’s Bayer will wrap up the US$63 billion takeover of Monsanto on Thursday and also retire the U.S. seed and chemical firm’s 117-year-old name. The German drugmaker had received all required approvals from regulatory authorities, it said in a statement on Monday. “Bayer will remain the company name. Monsanto will no […] Read more
Dry weather offers a break for late seeding efforts
Alberta crop conditions as of May 29, 2018
Reading Time: < 1 minute Dry weather conditions helped producers catch up with late seeding and contributed to quick germination and emergence. Recent hot and windy weather lead to the increased drying of both surface soil moisture and sub-surface soil moisture. The forecasted cooler temperatures and scattered showers throughout the province are anticipated to aid overall crop growing conditions. Provincially, […] Read more
Deere sues Precision Planting, claiming patent infringement
Reuters — U.S. farm equipment maker Deere and Co. on Friday sued Precision Planting and Agco Corp., accusing them of infringing on 12 of its patents. In filings to the U.S. district court in Delaware, Deere alleged that products made or sold by Precision Planting, including vSet seed meters along with SpeedTube products, infringed on […] Read more
Canada clears Bayer’s Monsanto play, with conditions
Canada’s Competition Bureau says it’s “actively reviewing” BASF’s suitability as a buyer of the crop seed and chemical assets Bayer has to sell to get the bureau’s blessing to buy Monsanto. The Competition Bureau said Wednesday it has an agreement with Bayer to deal with “concerns that the proposed transaction would have significantly harmed competition […] Read more
Deal in principle announced for Churchill railway, port
The federal government has announced an “agreement in principle” which will see a new partnership fix up northern Manitoba’s washed-out Hudson Bay Railway and take over the mothballed Port of Churchill. Details of the agreement were slim at best in the government’s announcement Wednesday, except to say the buying group slated to take over the […] Read more
Strikes called off as unions, CP reach tentative deals
Labour peace arrives Thursday morning at Canadian Pacific Railway, as the company and the unions for its conductors, engineers and signal maintainers have reached tentative deals. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Council No. 11, which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, announced a tentative three-year deal with Calgary-based CP Tuesday evening. The […] Read more
A new day dawns and hope blossoms for Prairie grain farmers
The proof will be in the pudding, but farm leaders and grain companies agree the ‘building blocks’ are there
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s a battle that took more than a decade to wage — but producers should see the benefits of the new grain transportation law this fall, says a pair of Alberta farm leaders. “I expect we’ll see advantages right away,” said Alberta Wheat chair Kevin Bender. “When the previous government brought in previous legislation after […] Read more