When farm revenue goes up, farm equipment and input companies are quick to raise prices, says Scott Keller. But when it comes to those costs, what goes up rarely comes down, he notes.

Inputs and iron: Relentless price hikes squeeze producers

When crop prices soared, so did costs — and they stayed high 
even as farm revenues fell back to earth

Reading Time: 6 minutes Record-high grain and oilseed prices are a speck in the rear-view mirror, but they’ve left a legacy of higher costs. “When we see higher grain prices, we can expect to pay higher inputs,” said Scott Keller, a mixed grain farmer near New Norway. “All the companies selling crop inputs look at farmers’ margins and then […] Read more

Canola checkoff tax credit available

Canola checkoff tax credit available

Reading Time: < 1 minute Canola growers who didn’t ask for a checkoff refund last year can get a tax credit for the 2016 tax year. The Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit covers the portion of the checkoff used for qualifying research. For Alberta canola producers, the credit is 9.77 per cent. For example, for an individual grower […] Read more


Blackleg lives up to its name but unless it is severe, blackening at the base shouldn’t significantly affect yield.

You’ve got blackleg in your fields — whether you know it or not

Blackleg was confirmed in 90 per cent of Alberta fields last year and is likely in every field, says expert

Reading Time: 3 minutes You probably already have blackleg in your field. But you just don’t know it. “When we did our survey in 2016, we found blackleg in almost 90 per cent of the fields we looked at,” said Mike Harding, research scientist in plant pathology with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. “If we looked harder, we probably could […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Federal forecast sees more oilseed acres, less in grains

Canadian farmers are expected to cut back the summerfallow allocation and put more acres in production this spring, planting more of those acres in oilseeds and fewer in grains and pulses. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s market analysis group on Monday released an outlook for principal field crops which, assuming a return to average or trend […] Read more


Snowed-in canola samples wanted

Snowed-in canola samples wanted

Reading Time: < 1 minute The Canadian Grain Commission needs samples of late-harvested or overwintered canola. The impact of snow on canola quality has not been studied and the commission wants to assess the impact of snowed-in and overwintered canola on the quality of the 2016 crop and assess its end-use functionality. This research will help ensure the Canadian canola […] Read more

Midge larvae inside a canola floret. Federal researchers have documented a new midge species in Prairie canola that differs significantly from the swede midge it was believed to be. (AAFC photo by Julie Soroka from CanolaWatch.org)

Anonymous midge appears in Prairie canola

Canola crops in northeastern Saskatchewan and east-central Alberta have run up against a potential pest problem so new it doesn’t yet have a name. Researchers with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the University of Guelph and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency have reported a new species of midge damaging canola crops in those areas. The species […] Read more


Exporting poor-quality canola seed overseas is a risky proposition, but fortunately a lot of this year’s crop will be processed on the Prairies.

They’re crushing it! And that’s a good thing

Canola crushers are enjoying hefty margins, but that’s actually good news 
for farmers — especially given the poor-quality crop

Reading Time: 3 minutes Poor conditions at harvest have been good for Western Canada’s crushers, which are soaking up canola that would otherwise be hard to market. Weekly canola crush levels hit a record high of just over 200,000 tonnes the first week in January for the second time ever. While crush levels dipped the following week, the total […] Read more

John Mayko new ACPC region 4 rep

Reading Time: < 1 minute Growers in Region 4 have elected John Mayko of Mundare to the board of the Alberta Canola Producers Commission. Almost 2,000 growers mailed in ballots earlier this winter for the election. Kris Klammer of Vegreville was the other candidate. Mayko has worked in various roles in crop production at the Canola Council of Canada over […] Read more