Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian agriculture productivity is growing, but the rate of growth is slowing, agriculture and tech leaders heard Oct. 26. “The low-hanging fruits are gone,” said J.P Gervais, Farm Credit Canada’s chief economist. The comments came during a discussion with Fred Wall, FCC’s vice-president of marketing and digital agriculture, at the Agriculture Enlightened conference in Winnipeg […] Read more
Ag productivity gain rate is shrinking
Canadian agriculture needs innovation, more flexible and accessible regulation
Keep balance in research funding
Declining federal government funding means others must fill in to fill the gap
Reading Time: 3 minutes Many ingredients went into the mix that resulted in the extraordinary success of agriculture in feeding a growing population. There’s the ability of farmers to constantly learn and increase their management skills. There are also vast improvements in technology – mechanical, digital and biological – that have come from researchers in both private companies and […] Read more
Investor nominates directors for Corteva, aims to oust CEO
Reuters — Activist investor Starboard Value LP said on Thursday it has nominated eight directors to the board of Corteva, seeking to oust its chief executive officer and take control of the pesticide and seed maker. Starboard, in its letter to Corteva’s chairman, said it had identified someone new for the top job, but declined […] Read more
Report shows slower pace for rising farmland values
While lower-valued farmland more often showed a higher rate of increase, and price hikes varied from region to region, Canada’s farmland values on average have booked their slowest year-over-year rate of increase in almost a decade. That’s according to the annual Farmland Values Report from Farm Credit Canada (FCC), in which the federal ag lending […] Read more
Quebec offers aid to lessen brunt of U.S. tariffs
Montreal | Reuters — The Quebec government on Wednesday said it would spend $863 million over five years to mitigate the impact of U.S. tariffs on companies and the province’s agriculture sector. The plan would provide direct financial aid to some companies affected by the tariffs and would support investments to improve productivity, worker training […] Read more
Trust your people, dare to be different, and know your numbers
Those are just three key tips from four innovative entrepreneurs who shared their methods for boosting productivity
Reading Time: 5 minutes Increasing productivity by 15 per cent by 2020 is one of the pillars of the National Beef Strategy, which was created by beef organizations across Canada and released in January 2015. During the recent Canadian Beef Industry Conference, four experts shared how they increase productivity on their operations. Darren Bevans Darren Bevans, general manager of […] Read more
Looking to cut costs and increase profits? Try the five per cent rule
Increasing yields and your sale price by five per cent while cutting costs by the same amount can double your profit
Reading Time: 3 minutes In the sport of baseball, the difference between superstar Derek Jeter and a squad player is simply hitting one more ball every 20 times at bat — a five per cent improvement done “over and over and over again.” Well, that’s fine for baseball, but what does five per cent look like in farming? “If […] Read more
Expert says productivity has trumped welfare in breeding programs
New breeding techniques could improve welfare-related traits in animals, creating a win-win for livestock industry
Reading Time: 3 minutes Animal welfare shouldn’t take a back seat to productivity, says an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research scientist. “Health and welfare traits should take precedence over production traits,” said Karen Schwartzkopf-Genswein at the recent Livestock Genomics in Alberta conference. “Successful livestock production will only be accomplished through welfare-conscious management.” But that hasn’t been the case in […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
