Reading Time: 2 minutes Say you own a brewery (that’s the dream, right?). You’ve taken a close look at the changing consumer landscape and you think you understand what your customers want. Sure, they expect a good product — but more than that, they want a product they can feel good about buying. So you decide to show your […] Read more
New Acre program produces a new kind of commodity
Corporations can ‘offset’ their environmental impact by funding stewardship projects on farms
Legacy of Alberta’s black pioneers honoured
Reading Time: < 1 minute Alberta’s black pioneers have been recognized with a Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plaque at Amber Valley Cultural Centre in Amber Valley. Between 1908 and 1911, more than 1,000 black Americans left Oklahoma and surrounding states to settle in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, seeking freedom from racial segregation and economic opportunity. They chose […] Read more
This quick-spreading weed gets an early start
Noxious weeds: Canada thistle
Reading Time: < 1 minute Spring brings lovely native flowers, but also noxious weeds. The aggressive perennial Canada thistle is a favourite of disturbed soils of all types. It starts sending shoots from horizontal roots to the surface of soil around mid-April, with flowers to follow in mid-June and continuing throughout the summer. Easy to distinguish from other weeds, this […] Read more
Farmers wait for fertilizer prices to fall amid oversupply
CNS Canada — As more fertilizer plants are built around the world and U.S. corn acreage shrinks, the typical thinking holds that prices for urea and nitrogen should fall, but that hasn’t been the case so far for Canadian farmers. “They’re more on the steady side,” said Todd Lewis, president of the Agricultural Producers Association […] Read more
Nova Scotia ag minister, critic keep seats in election
Nova Scotia’s incumbent agriculture minister and lead ag critic have both hung onto their seats in an election which saw the governing Liberals return to power with a slightly slimmer majority. Preliminary results from Tuesday’s election show Premier Stephen McNeil’s Liberals elected in 27 ridings — down from 34 at the government’s dissolution — followed […] Read more
Greig: Farmer trust key to big data’s future
The marketplace for precision agriculture technology is sorting itself out, but it still has a way to go before it will be mature and have predictable uses for farmers, says a U.S. agriculture economist. Dr. Keith Coble, chair of the Mississippi State University’s department of agricultural economics, says we’re in the “overexuberance” phase of technology […] Read more
Glencore seen paying up to US$6 billion in possible Bunge deal
London | Reuters –– Miner and trader Glencore may pay up to US$6 billion in cash in a possible tie-up with U.S. grains trader Bunge based on current valuations, Moody’s ratings agency said on Friday, but said it did not expect an outright acquisition. Glencore said this week it had made an informal approach to […] Read more
Cooking up thunderstorms with Mother Nature
Severe thunderstorms are a fascinating phenomena and you need the right conditions to come together
Reading Time: 4 minutes Thunderstorm season isn’t too far off so we’ll continue our annual look at what is arguably one of the most fascinating weather phenomena we see in our part of the world. I always like to begin our look at thunderstorms by touching upon one of my biggest weather pet peeves, which is when people mix […] Read more
African farms are vastly different but share common bonds
Subsistence farming is still the norm in Africa, but agriculture is the key to changing its economic fortunes
Reading Time: 3 minutes Africa is a world apart but as in Canada, farming is increasingly being recognized as a key driver of economic growth. “There’s no other way to fight poverty than to create wealth,” South African farmer Theo de Jager told an international gathering of farm journalists here last month. “And there’s no other sector in this […] Read more
Glencore looking to expand agriculture business, CEO says
Cham, Switzerland | Reuters –– Miner and trader Glencore is looking to expand its agriculture business via its partnership with two Canadian funds, the company’s CEO said on Wednesday, but has no plans to move into any commodities it does not already trade. CEO Ivan Glasenberg was speaking a day after U.S. grains trader Bunge […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
