Kiev — Severe drought across half of Ukraine has hit winter sowing and could sharply reduce the country’s 2016 wheat harvest, a senior state weather forecaster said on Monday. The drought, in which the central Dnipropetrovsk region suffered its driest autumn in 50 years, could lead to a 20 per cent year-on-year fall in the wheat […] Read more
Drought to shrivel Ukrainian wheat harvest in 2016
India’s drought a bonanza for Canadian pulse growers
Winnipeg/Mumbai | Reuters — Prices for Canadian pulses typically ease toward the end of the year but a recent dry spell in distant India, the world’s top producer and consumer, is driving them up. Back-to-back drought years for the first time in three decades has eroded India’s output of pulses and boosted imports. Global prices […] Read more
Boosting hay stand conditions
Reading Time: < 1 minute Many hay stands, especially older ones, are in poor condition following this year’s drought and in need of a fertility program, says a provincial forage specialist. “Doing it in spring is good, but although doing it in fall might lose a little bit of the nitrogen component, it allows for a very early effect on […] Read more
HARVEST 2015: It’s not good — but not as bad as it could have been
In many areas those poor, stunted crops managed a few extra bushels — now the challenge is getting them off
Reading Time: 3 minutes Some farmers are getting more in the bin than they expected this harvest — a bit of a silver lining in a tough year that has swung from drought to too rainy in many areas. “People are seeing a little better yield than they originally expected, maybe five bushels more,” said Kelly McIntyre, who grows […] Read more
Tax deferral an option — but is it your best one?
Experts say you should run the numbers and get expert advice before deciding how much tax to defer
Reading Time: 4 minutes It’s a classic ‘good-news, bad-news’ story. The bad news is: If you’re a producer reading this in Alberta, chances are you live in one of the vast majority of Alberta municipalities devastated by drought or other inclement weather. The good news is you may be eligible for the Federal Livestock Tax Deferral, which allows producers […] Read more
Drought exposes cracks in Australia’s acclaimed water market
Sydney | Reuters — A pioneering Australian scheme to improve the management of water in the world’s driest inhabited continent is facing its first real test as an intensifying El Nino threatens crops and builds tensions between farmers and environmentalists. The three-year old management plan for the Murray-Darling basin, an area twice the size of […] Read more
Building the herd: The downside of strong cattle prices
Cattle prices are expected to remain strong into 2016, but what does that mean for replacement cattle next year?
Reading Time: 4 minutes Next year could see continued strong or even stronger cattle prices — and that’s a double-edged sword for producers who’ve reduced their herds this year and plan to buy replacements in 2016. Producers in prescribed drought regions who have reduced their breeding stock by at least 15 per cent can tap into the Federal Livestock […] Read more
Dry doesn’t describe it in Mackenzie County
Almost no rain has fallen across a county that’s bigger than New Brunswick — and that’s devastating for the cattle industry
Reading Time: 4 minutes Drought hits everyone hard, but Mackenzie County’s 150 cattle producers have been squeezed harder and earlier than most — and the fallout may be felt for years. Cattleman Eric Jorgensen remembers looking at an agro-climatic map in mid-June that showed the province’s largest county, which at 80,000 square kilometres is larger than New Brunswick, had […] Read more
Western Prairies see low yields as harvest ramps up
CNS Canada –– This summer’s erratic weather has taken its toll on plant development in Alberta and parts of western Saskatchewan, according to crop-watchers in those areas. “We have heard that dry conditions have caused plants (peas) to slough off or have the tillers dry off and have lost those heads,” said Barry Yaremcio at […] Read more
Dry means extra dangers for grazing livestock
Water hemlock and blue-green algae are two killers that pose an increased risk in dry, hot years
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dried-up sloughs and waterways mean cattle can graze things they normally wouldn’t. And that can be deadly. Water hemlock — something cattle wouldn’t normally eat — is one of the dangers. Its leaves and stems are toxic, but the root is especially dangerous, with a marble-sized piece enough to kill a cow. “Water hemlock is […] Read more