Reading Time: 5 minutes Grain shipments by rail are leaps and bounds ahead of last year — but there’s still a long way to go. “I think both railways have really stepped up the volume, but we haven’t been without our issues,” said Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corporation, the agency tasked with monitoring grain movement by rail. “If […] Read more
Railway pace ahead of last year
Both major rail companies were on track for good performance coming into 2019, but poor weather has derailed their progress
New blockchain beer tells the farm-to-glass story
Reading Time: 3 minutes The road from field to glass is a long one for the malt barley that goes in your beer. And now you can join it on its journey, thanks to a new blockchain beer made, malted, and brewed in Alberta. “The whole idea was to track the farm-to-glass story,” said Natasha Peiskar, head brewer at […] Read more
Making the grade — new yield standards will drive change
New yield grades based on what retailers want will affect both genetics and management
Reading Time: 4 minutes Canada’s new beef yield grade standards will make it easier for beef producers to know which of their cattle are hitting top marks — and which ones literally aren’t making the grade. “In the old system, we basically had a high, medium, and low classification, and for many years, we had more than half of […] Read more
Buckle up: Here’s your economic forecast for 2019
Canada’s top ag economist has the lowdown on the economy, trade, interest rates, and your income
Reading Time: 4 minutes What’s the forecast for Canadian ag? How about murky with a good chance of turbulence? ‘Headwinds’ was the phrase du jour when the country’s foremost ag economist came by FarmTech late last month. “There are lots of good things going on in the industry, but lots of headwinds as well — trade tensions, weather, excess […] Read more
Even as tariffs fall, new trade barriers arise
Protectionists don’t give up when their government signs a free trade deal
Reading Time: 4 minutes Donald Trump might not get his wall — but other invisible walls are going up around the world. “We’re in an era of protectionism, and in an era of protectionism, we have governments and regulators that are looking for any excuse to block trade,” said Cam Dahl, president of Cereals Canada. “So we can’t give […] Read more
A new age of ag education is underway, says Olds College research director
Joy Agnew says ‘digital ag’ is revolutionizing how students are being trained in agriculture
Reading Time: 3 minutes Joy Agnew says her first few days at her new job were totally overwhelming — in a good way. After a nearly 10-year stint at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute, Agnew began her new job as director of applied research at Olds College in early January and hit the ground running. “The shift to digital […] Read more
Protein supercluster to launch this spring
Protein Industries Canada will soon be actively seeking proposals
Reading Time: 4 minutes A government-backed bid to turn Western Canada into a plant protein superpower is nearing the end of its startup phase and will launch this spring. “We’re hoping to be open for business and ready to launch a call for proposals in April,” said Bill Greuel, CEO of Protein Industries Canada. The federal government is contributing […] Read more
Political gamesmanship casts shadow over canola sector
China is still buying Canadian canola and the entire industry is hoping that doesn’t change
Reading Time: 3 minutes Concerns in the canola sector are mounting in lockstep with the growing tensions between China and Canada. “Everybody is very concerned about it,” a senior Canadian grain company official told Commodity News Service Canada. “If the conflict isn’t resolved, (canola) will be the obvious target, and that’s a deep concern to everybody.” The situation began […] Read more
If this is the future, it can’t come soon enough
Unless you love writing cheques for inputs, you’ll want to cheer on the work of these three scientists
Reading Time: 7 minutes Grow more with less — that’s the goal of three Alberta researchers whose work could revolutionize the way we grow cereals. “Canadian agriculture will be facing quite high demand for food production because of the growing global population and reduction in arable land,” said federal research biologist Alicja Ziemienowicz. “We’re trying to give you the […] Read more
Drying grain may become the norm as harvests trend later
Natural air drying with supplemental heat hasn’t caught on in Alberta yet, but it soon could
Reading Time: 5 minutes Alberta farmers may need to get used to leaving grain in the field at harvest. “Harvest might be starting earlier, but poor weather during the harvest season is slowing down that last little bit of harvest, and there’s more and more crop being left in the field in October,” said Joy Agnew, program manager at […] Read more
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