Crops
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Alberta Farm Fresh School 2015 takes place Feb. 26-27 at the Pomeroy Inn and Suites on the Olds College campus. “This annual school is the perfect place to learn more about direct- market production and marketing of fruit, vegetables and livestock, as well as connect with producer peers and experts,” said Rob Spencer, provincial […] Read more
Alberta Farm Fresh School 2015
Winter wheat uptake low despite big efforts to convince producers
The Western Winter Wheat Initiative wants to boost seeding to two million acres — but 2014 plantings were just a third of that
Reading Time: 3 minutes The goal is ambitious — convince Prairie farmers to plant two million acres of winter wheat by 2019 — but the backers of the Western Winter Wheat Initiative admit they have a steep hill to climb. Even though winter wheat yields were 32 per cent better than those for spring wheat in 2012 and offered […] Read more
Prairie shippers’ group expands grain car tracking
A clutch of Prairie grain industry stakeholders says its pool of weekly data on rail car spotting is getting deeper and still shows significant shortfalls in car delivery from Canada’s big two railways. The Ag Transport Coalition on Tuesday released a performance measurement update, which it says now includes aggregate data from shippers representing about 85 […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn gets biggest boost of new year as dollar slips
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and wheat futures climbed four per cent on Tuesday amid a broad-based rally in commodities led by crude oil as the dollar slipped to a near-two-week low on weaker domestic economic data, traders said. Chicago Board of Trade grain markets were overdue for a short-covering rebound after falling to […] Read more
StatsCan canola stocks expected to drop from year-ago mark
CNS Canada –– With Statistics Canada releasing its estimates Wednesday for crop stocks as of Dec. 31, canola supplies are generally expected to fall compared to year-ago levels. The lower stocks estimates are mainly linked to smaller production in 2014-15, compared to the record large crop grown in 2013-14, analysts say. “Stocks were pretty high […] Read more
ADM profit jumps as big U.S. harvest boosts ag services
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. agribusiness Archer Daniels Midland on Tuesday reported higher quarterly earnings as a record-large U.S. harvest boosted grain volumes and supported strong exports, though revenue fell short of expectations. Earnings in agricultural services, ADM’s biggest business segment in terms of revenue, grew as bumper U.S. corn and soybean crops replenished thinned […] Read more
China said planning bigger role for market in grains pricing
Beijing | Reuters –– China wants to give the market a bigger role in setting farm prices and move away from a controversial state stockpiling policy that has led to bulging grain inventories and a surge of cheap imports, a top agricultural official said Tuesday. That policy, in which grains are bought at artificially high […] Read more
Alberta producers want cattle checkoff raised
Alberta Beef Producers says its members have endorsed raising the checkoff
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta producers want to see the checkoff on cattle rise by a third — and be made mandatory. Attendees at Alberta Beef Producers’ meetings earlier this winter were asked if they favoured a higher, mandatory checkoff and the answer was a strong ‘yes,’ said Rich Smith, the organization’s executive director. “The producers who attended those […] Read more
Cargill begins selling GM corn seed at centre of lawsuits
Reuters — Cargill has started selling a variety of genetically modified Syngenta corn seed that previously disrupted U.S. grain trading, now that China has approved imports of the biotech crop. Cargill, one of the top U.S. grain exporters, began selling seed containing the Agrisure Viptera trait last month and scrapped a policy that required farmers […] Read more
Canola variety’s clubroot claim taken with caution
A new variety of canola with “intermediate” resistance to a new type of clubroot may be cause for optimism, but Alberta’s canola grower group says farmers need to know more before they buy. The Alberta Canola Producers Commission (ACPC) warned Monday that growers will need more specifics about claims that a new canola variety has […] Read more