The CCA and NFACC have released their new version of the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Beef Cattle
Reading Time: 2 minutes Pain control will be required starting in 2016 when castrating bulls beyond a certain age, where beef cattle operations follow the now-updated and finalized code of practice for care and handling. The Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) and the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) on Sept. 6 released their new version of the Code of […] Read morePain control to be required for dehorning, bull castration
‘Staggering’ British farmland prices
Reading Time: < 1 minute Average price has tripled in the past decade British farmland prices have tripled in the last decade and are set to rise further, according to a report in the U.K. Farmers Weekly. Quoting the RICS rural land market survey, it says that during the first six months of this year, farmland prices jumped to £7,440/acre […] Read more
Prairie co-ops to own 17 Viterra retail outlets
Reading Time: < 1 minute Seventeen Prairie farm retail supply outlets are headed back to the co-operative model from whence their former owner came. Federated Co-operatives Ltd. (FCL) recently signed a deal to buy 17 fertilizer, seed and agriculture chemical supply centres from Viterra, the Prairie grain arm of Swiss commodity firm Glencore Xstrata, for an undisclosed sum. The sale, […] Read more
Hands-on look at using durum
Reading Time: < 1 minute Fourteen representatives from 10 countries attended the International Durum Wheat Program at Cigi (Canadian International Grains Institute) in Winnipeg during the week of Aug. 19. The program included lectures, laboratory sessions, field visits, and pilot processing demonstrations on Canadian durum wheat. Topics will include breeding, production, grading, handling, transportation, marketing, milling and end-use processing. The […] Read more
Development of Ug99-resistant wheat ‘a major breakthrough’
Reading Time: < 1 minute A consortium of organizations led by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization is distributing two new wheat varieties resistant to the Ug99 fungus to Kenyan farmers. The fungus — discovered in Uganda in 1999 — causes wheat stem rust, and cuts yield by 70 to 100 per cent. The regions directly affected by Ug99 account […] Read more
FCC annual report reflects positive agricultural outlook
Reading Time: < 1 minute Farm Credit Canada’s loan portfolio grew by almost $2 billion to $25.1 billion, the Crown corporation says in its newly released annual report for 2012. FCC disbursed $7.7 billion to farmers, processors and suppliers in the agriculture value chain through 47,000 loans during 2012, the report says. “The bottom line is that agriculture has never […] Read more
Feds fund canola cluster
Reading Time: 2 minutes The $15 million in federal funds will be combined with industry contributions to total $20 million over five years The federal government is investing $15 million into a new canola science cluster to support ongoing research into improving the crop’s nutritional and agronomic performance. “This is a great day for the canola industry,” said Canola […] Read more
New website aims to cut pecking damage
Reading Time: < 1 minute A new website www.featherwel.org by the University of Bristol in the U.K. has been launched to help make sure laying hens stay well feathered. Aimed principally at free-range systems, the website also emphasizes the importance of providing good access to a quality pasture with cover to maximize the opportunities for hens to forage while feeling […] Read more
Record ‘dead zone’ blamed on ethanol
Reading Time: < 1 minute The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts a record-size “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, and a Texas A&M University release says there’s one reason — corn production for ethanol. The dead zone is an annual area of oxygen depletion caused by algae blooms fed by fertilizer from the Midwest […] Read more
GM alfalfa protested at seed meeting
A group opposed to genetic modification of seeds says it will protest outside the Canadian Seed Trade Association (CSTA) annual meeting in Quebec City today. The CSTA says it has offered to meet with the protesters, but they have declined. The protest is organized by Vigilance OGM, a Quebec-based group which last week announced the […] Read more
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