Manitoba’s best-known digital agriculture firm is now a publicly-traded company. Farmers Edge, founded in 2005 in Pilot Mound, Man. by agronomists Wade Barnes and Curtis MacKinnon, has carved out a niche using field-centric data, artificial intelligence and its FarmCommand data management platform. CEO Wade Barnes called it an exciting day during an online press conference […] Read more
Farmers Edge launches IPO
Digital ag firm makes first public share offering to big demand
Canada’s mink farms brace for COVID
Producers have had time to increase biosecurity efforts at the farm level
Canada’s 40 mink farms are operating under heightened biosecurity requirements after reports of COVID-19 jumping from humans to mink in Europe. Alan Herscovici, an industry spokesperson who operates the website Truthaboutfur.com, said early reports out of Denmark and other European countries gave Canadian producers some time to prepare. “These farms have always had a certain […] Read more
New accounting standards for farms proposed
Canada’s accounting standards organization wants to make farm accounting simpler and more predictable
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada’s professional standards body for accountants is developing new accounting standards for Canadian farms. A standardized approach will make understanding farm accounts simpler and business more straightforward, the Financial Reporting & Assurance Standards Canada says. Currently there’s a hodgepodge of ways to do farm accounts, mainly due to the unique nature of these businesses, said […] Read more
Clubroot control strategies
The dos and dont's of clubroot
Reading Time: 2 minutes By now it’s clear. Some control strategies work. Others, says agronomist Dan Orchard, just don’t. Pulling plants from dead patches at the end of the season and looking for the disease certainly worked. But it would have worked even better if the recommendation, right from the start, had been to pull plants and check the […] Read more
Clubroot not just another disease
The response to clubroot has been uneven and often ineffective, but we need to learn from what’s worked to prevent a crisis situation
Reading Time: 3 minutes What surprised me most while researching the origins and spread of clubroot was just how devastating this disease is. Before travelling through the most affected areas and interviewing those at ground zero, I thought of clubroot as just another crop disease. It’s not. But unfortunately, many canola growers still don’t fully realize the threat they […] Read more
Scale of food challenge the question
Reading Time: 2 minutes The world shouldn’t expect another Green Revolution in its bid to feed nine billion by 2050, says a leading expert on agricultural productivity. In fact, despite advances in genetics and crop protection products, the rate of increased productivity appears to have slowed dramatically in recent years, University of California agricultural economist Alex McCalla told the […] Read more
It’s not the heat — it’s the photoperiod
Narrow adaptivity Soybeans are particularly sensitive to day length, says an AAFC soy breeder
Reading Time: 2 minutes You can breed soybeans to grow just about anywhere, but whether you’d want to is another question, says an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada soybean breeder. Elroy Cober told the recent Manitoba Special Crops Symposium that it’s widely expected that Manitoba will take the No. 2 slot behind Ontario in the coming season. “The short-season areas […] Read moreFarm prosperity will depend on income, not population
Recession Developed countries still need to be pulled out of economic slump, says FCC economist
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farm Credit Canada’s top economist says if you’re a Canadian farmer, you should really be hoping for the best in the Chinese economy. That’s because while population growth catches all the headlines and is credited for growing food demand, it’s looking increasingly like we’ll be able to feed nine billion by 2050. The question is […] Read moreFormer British GM foe now preaches pro-GM gospel
Reversal The British environmentalist told potato growers he was wrong to oppose GM crops in the face of growing global food needs
Reading Time: 4 minutes When Mark Lynas took the stage here Jan. 23 as keynote speaker at the 2013 edition of Manitoba Potato Production Days, he knew he was likely a strange and exotic creature to his audience. The British environmentalist and author has been involved in the environmental movement since the mid-1990s and for many years he was […] Read moreSilence isn’t golden if you want the family farm to prosper
NAVIGATE Farm family coach and succession planner Elaine Froese says families need to get better at navigating their personal relationships and emotions — because their farm business depends on it
Reading Time: 4 minutes Farmers — particularly the male version — have a reputation for keeping their feelings hidden. But anyone who thinks emotions don’t affect business decisions on the farm is just fooling themselves. Just take a look at what’s in the yard, farm family coach and succession planner Elaine Froese said at the recent Manitoba Special Crops […] Read moreCyber-Savvy Farmer
