Reading Time: 3 minutes Alberta’s newest meadery is doing things a little differently. Along with a traditional honey wine, Tamarack Jack’s Honey and Meadery also produces a variation that might tempt those who prefer a brewskie to the so-called ‘drink of the gods.’ “We are a small apiary turned into a meadery just recently,” Katie Kingdon, manager of the […] Read more
Alberta’s newest meadery takes a different approach
Proceed with caution when it comes to micronutrients, says agronomist
It’s not hard to spend thousands of dollars on micronutrients that aren’t needed or produce little benefit, says Ross McKenzie
Reading Time: 3 minutes Farmers need to put on their critical thinking caps when dealing with micronutrient claims — or risk spending lots of money for no or marginal results. There is a lot of hype surrounding supplemental micronutrients right now, said Ross McKenzie, a retired agronomy research scientist. However, not all micronutrients are created equally; some of the […] Read more
With interest rates on the rise, is it time to lock in?
Variable rates have been a winner for decades, but a fixed rate is an option worth considering
Reading Time: 2 minutes Is it time to lock into a fixed long-term mortgage? “Since 1975, the majority of the time the variable interest rate has been the better option and has saved producers money,” said provincial farm financial specialist Rick Dehod. However, the Bank of Canada recently increased its prime rate by a quarter of a percentage point […] Read more
Biosecurity proves its worth in PEDv fight
Rather than slaughter recovered pigs, authorities move them to clean barns and then closely monitor them
Reading Time: 3 minutes Manitoba hog producers battling porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) aren’t out of the woods yet — but the situation has shown that biosecurity measures are effective. “We had not had any positive cases since July 14, but yesterday, one infected premises was confirmed positive based on samples collected from pigs,” Manitoba’s acting chief veterinary officer […] Read more
Now is the time to create next year’s battle plan for fusarium
Scouting this year is the first step in limiting the impact of the cereal disease next year
Reading Time: 2 minutes Although it’s likely too late to apply a fungicide for fusarium graminearum, producers can still use the information they gather about the outbreak to plan for subsequent growing seasons. Fusarium graminearum is considered the most important fusarium head blight (FHB) species due to its aggressiveness and production of deoxynivalenol or DON (a.k.a. vomitoxin), said crop […] Read more
‘Public trust’ conference aims to find ways to win back consumers
The popularity of campaigns attacking conventional agriculture shows that the industry needs to do more, says organizer
Reading Time: 2 minutes Public trust is eroding in Canada, and farmers — along with others in the value chain — need to fight back, says the head of a new ag organization aimed at winning back confused consumers. “The whole industry needs to know a whole bunch more about consumers,” said Kim McConnell, an Okotoks-based marketing expert and […] Read more
Where’s the beef? New food guide puts focus on ‘proteins’
Meat is being ‘merged’ with plant-based sources of protein in the revamp of Canada’s Food Guide
Reading Time: 3 minutes Canada’s Food Guide is getting revamped for the first time in 10 years — and there’s lots of speculation, especially on social media, about whether meat is being given a thumbs down. “It’s not as harsh as that, really,” said Joyce Parslow, director of consumer relations with Canada Beef. One of the guiding principles of […] Read more
Big divide in crop and cattle marketing
Grain growers have options that most cattle producers just won’t have this fall
Reading Time: 4 minutes Drought conditions in Alberta will have an upside for crop growers when marketing, but it’s nothing but bad news for cattle producers. “From a bigger-picture perspective, certainly we’re going to have fewer bushels in Western Canada than in the past couple of years, and that is generally going to be supportive to prices,” said FarmLink’s […] Read more
Don’t like the grade or dockage assessment?
For $50, the Canadian Grain Commission will give you an independent assessment of the quality of your canola
Reading Time: 2 minutes Alberta producers are reporting large variations among buyers in their dockage assessment on canola, says a provincial crop market analyst. “On dockage alone, producers have reported from one to over three per cent differences in dockage on the same sample of their canola,” said Neil Blue. “These differences were reported both in cases of comparing […] Read more
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