Reading Time: 4 minutes The picturesque old barn conjured up stereotypical images of an old-fashioned farm, but the conversation inside was all about the modern world of agriculture. The Seat at our Table event in the old white barn near Olds brought 150 people — mostly millennials — from across the province on Canadian Agriculture Day. But the goal […] Read more
Taking a seat at the table to share agriculture’s story
Dry winter is just what’s needed
Reading Time: < 1 minute The so-far dry winter in Alberta is raising hopes that farmers will be able to get onto their fields early in order to deal with more than one million acres of unharvested crops. As of Jan. 31, snowpack accumulations were generally below normal in most areas (save for southern Alberta, where little to no snow […] Read more
Nestle, Coke end Nestea iced tea venture
Zurich/London | Reuters –– Nestle and Coca-Cola have agreed to end their Nestea iced tea joint venture after 16 years and pursue separate strategies in the fast-changing bottled drinks market. The companies formed Beverage Partners Worldwide in 2001 to sell Nestea around the world but the brand has faced fierce competition from Lipton iced tea, […] Read more
What will make you money this year?
Reading Time: < 1 minute AgriProfit$ Cropping Alternatives has been updated for 2017. The crop-budgeting tool allows producers to project costs, margins and break-even yields for potential cropping choices. The data is presented by soil zones, with a mix of cereals, oilseeds, pulses and forage crops for each zone. Crop budgets include a projection of individual itemized variable costs as […] Read more
Ontario waste plan to include ban on food waste disposal
Ontario’s new strategy for a “waste-free” province includes a proposal to ban food waste from disposal, instead finding “creative strategies” to recycle it. The province on Wednesday announced its new “Strategy for a Waste-Free Ontario: Building the Circular Economy,” which calls for industries to divert more of the waste they produce away from landfills, and […] Read more
Need for speed is the key to Vegreville’s two new elevators
Viterra’s and GrainsConnect Canada’s new facilities will both be able to load huge unit trains in little more than half a day
Reading Time: 2 minutes Vegreville will soon be home to two new high-throughput elevators, and the demise of the Canadian Wheat Board is a big reason why, says the head of GrainsConnect Canada. The company’s two owners — Japan’s Zen-Noh Grain Corp. and Australia’s GrainCorp — both want access to Prairie grain and that prompted the decision to spend […] Read more
Ward Oatway elected new Seed Growers president
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Alberta Seed Growers board of directors has elected Ward Oatway as president and Jason Welsh as vice-president for the upcoming year. Oatway has been a seed grower since 1984 and farms 1,300 acres of seed barley, wheat, peas and commercial canola with family near Clive. Welsh has been a seed grower for seven-plus years […] Read more
COVER CROPS: The potential is huge, but so is the learning curve
Those looking for a one-size-fits-all solution will be disappointed
Reading Time: 4 minutes Looking over at the emptied room that had been packed with attentive farmers a few minutes earlier, cover crops guru Kevin Elmy could only shake his head. “If I had given a talk here five years ago, maybe the front row might have been filled — maybe,” the Saskatchewan farmer said after his FarmTech presentation, […] Read more
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
Barge glut chokes U.S. shipping sector despite record harvest
Chicago | Reuters — A glut of idled river barges is clogging Mississippi River shorelines from St. Louis to New Orleans, leaving U.S. barge companies that haul grain, coal and other bulk goods counting their losses. Even with record-large exports of corn and soybeans, typically a boon for shippers that haul grain to Gulf Coast […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
