Crops
CNS Canada — Some agricultural regions of Western Canada saw below-freezing temperatures overnight, which brought light frosts. In Alberta, the Peace region was the coldest overnight, with Environment Canada reporting temperatures falling to -3 C at Grande Prairie, and -1 C at Peace River. At Edmonton and Lethbridge, temperatures were slightly above freezing late Tuesday […] Read more
Temperatures below freezing overnight in Alta.
Canola growers crippling clubroot resistance with short rotations
Growing clubroot-resistant canola varieties back to back is causing resistance to break down in Alberta fields
Reading Time: 2 minutes With clubroot resistance breakdown confirmed in one Alberta canola field — and likely in others — a four-year rotation has become even more critical, even though it won’t stop the spread of clubroot. “Rotation isn’t going to get rid of the clubroot out of the field,” provincial oilseed specialist Murray Hartman said of the field […] Read more
Malt barley prospects decline with excess moisture
CNS Canada — It looks like this year’s Canadian malt barley crop could be a lot smaller than originally expected. Canada’s 2014-15 barley production was estimated at 7.2 million tonnes by Statistics Canada. This compares to last year’s total of 10.2 million tonnes. That estimate, however, was before persistent rains swept across the Prairies during […] Read more
U.S. grains: New-crop soybeans fall below $10 as big harvest looms
Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. benchmark new-crop soybean futures dropped below US$10 a bushel on Tuesday, pressured by strong yield reports from the start of the harvest and diminished fears about frost in the Midwest, traders said. New-crop futures in soybeans, corn and wheat all fell to contract lows, fueling chart-based selling. At the Chicago […] Read more
FNA gauging farmer interest in bid for CWB
Farm input buying group Farmers of North America (FNA) is feeling out Prairie farmers’ appetite for investment in a bid for control of CWB. Saskatoon-based FNA, already in the midst of a plan dubbed “ProjectN” to develop fertilizer manufacturing assets by 2017, last week launched a separate online campaign seeking farmer expressions of support “to […] Read more
Researcher finds a way to calculate roundworm risk in Alberta pastures
Weather matters a lot when it comes to predicting where roundworm infestations are likely to be worst
Reading Time: 2 minutes A federal research scientist has developed “a hint of a tool” for predicting roundworm risk in Alberta pastures. “The question we came up with late at night was: Can we make a correlation between egg counts, antibody levels, and environmental parameters and build a GIS map that would give us an idea of what the […] Read more
No crash in U.S. farmland seen despite tumbling grain prices
Chicago | Reuters — David Fullington paid a “ridiculous” price of US$13,600 an acre for a 200-acre farm in Illinois within the last year and says he and his partners would probably bid again for prime land that is in tight supply, despite tumbling grain prices. “No regrets at all,” Fullington said of the purchase […] Read more
Winter comes early to Alta., crop downgrades likely
CNS Canada — There may technically still be two more weeks of summer on the calendar, but winter weather has hit Alberta already and is raising quality concerns for unharvested crops in the province. Widespread snowfall and temperatures near the freezing mark were being reported Monday across the province. The winter weather is expected to […] Read more
Prairie wheat bids follow U.S. futures lower
CNS Canada — Bids for Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) at moved down at most locations across Western Canada during the week ended Friday, despite mounting weather-related concerns across the Prairies, as losses in U.S. futures weighed on prices. The highest CWRS prices were still available in Manitoba, but average bids in the province declined […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn sags on harvest expectations, freeze fears wane
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn prices fell more than two per cent Monday on expectations the government will raise its production forecasts to record highs this week and that a possible frost in the upper Midwest will cause only minor damage. “We are in downtrends for everything,” said Robert Bresnahan of Trilateral Inc. “Last […] Read more