Sydney | Reuters — Australia is set to increase taxes on foreign travellers who work in the country, raising concerns from farmers that their supply of “backpacker labour” at harvest times may dry up and undermine Australia’s ambitions of being Asia’s delicatessen. Australian fruit exports are set to hit a record A$2.27 billion (C$2.19 billion) […] Read more
Australia to hike tax on ‘backpacker’ workers
Alberta producers in the final stages of harvest
Alberta crop conditions as of October 20, 2015
Reading Time: 2 minutes Harvest is in its final stages. Producers were able to take advantage of warm, mostly dry conditions this past week to raise the completion percentage to 96.3 per cent. Dry beans and potatoes are virtually completed and only 15 per cent of the sugar beet crop remains to be dug. What remains outstanding is principally […] Read more
Yield estimates improving in all regions, crop quality average
Alberta crop conditions as of September 22, 2015
Reading Time: 2 minutes Wet weather conditions caused some interruptions with harvest operations over the last week. Most of the province received less than 5 mm of rain. Some areas received well over 5 mm and other areas up to 15-20 mm of rain. Provincially, about 27 per cent of the crops remain standing, 27 per cent are swathed, […] Read more
Alberta producers making good harvest progress
Alberta crop conditions as of September 1, 2015
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta producers were able to make good harvest progress this past week with the South region showing the greatest advancement. Thick smoke haze in the atmosphere reduced temperatures and slowed drying across much of the province. High winds in southern Alberta helped to dry crops but also caused damage by blowing swaths and breaking heads. […] Read more
Start small when straight cutting canola for the first time
Reading Time: < 1 minute This year’s thin canola crop may force some producers to take their chances with straight cutting. “Typically we recommend a well-knit, even crop — something that the wind won’t shake, rattle, and roll — so that we prevent shattering and loss,” said Keith Gabert, Canola Council of Canada agronomist. “This year will be a little […] Read more
Crack open some pods before swathing canola this year, says agronomist
The ideal time to swath canola is when 60 per cent of seeds have changed colour — but 30 per cent is more realistic for large acreages
Reading Time: 3 minutes Keith Gabert is already dreading phone calls about swath timing in canola. “It’s going to be a hard job to figure out where your canola crop is going to be at for swathing, especially on some of those thin stands,” said the Canola Council of Canada agronomist at the Making the Grade workshop in late […] Read more
Traders squeezed as Indian farmers turn stockpile gamblers
Access to low-interest capital allowing some farmers to wait rather than sell at lower prices immediately after harvest
Reading Time: 2 minutes Farmers such as 68-year-old Ghanshyam Gokale are quietly shaking up agricultural commodity trading in India, forcing the likes of top soybean processor Ruchi Soya to shift its business model away from futures contracts and towards the “spot” market. Gokale, and other prosperous growers like him, has stopped selling his crops immediately after harvesting. Instead, he […] Read more
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