There is no doubt that this year farmers in the Red River Valley region of Manitoba will be watching water levels closely. An above average amount of snow this winter as well as runoff from upstream could mean trouble for anyone caught in the flood plains. A slow melt so far has helped brighten the... Read More
Category: Crop Production
Markets go up and markets go down. In the last thirty days canola has taken quite a run in multiple directions. Is it overbought, oversold or just right. Ask all of us in November. The trading range of $500 - $600 per tonne seems to be a real opportunity to trade the range but for... Read More
As kids we used to laugh about people who bought bottled water. Who would pay for water! How about every nation on the planet. We need water on just about every level imaginable. It is a commodity that affects all other commodities. Droughts hurt crops, poor crops hurt supplies, demand for those supplies, in the... Read More
The Grain Farmers of Ontario held their March Classic conference early this week with a sense of cautious optimism. Most Ontario growers had a great 2010, but echoes of the 2008 season are still lingering with the volatility of commodity prices and the weather situation very much in play. All in all the mood was... Read More
Originally looked upon as "snake oil" seed treatments have become an integral part of the production system. For the most part many farmers originally had trouble understanding the value because the action was underground. Farmers are used to using products like herbicides that kills weeds which is very visual. The action of seed treatments is... Read More
The standard rule of thumb for polite dinner conversation is never talk religion or politics. When it comes to the topic of biotechnology and GMO crops, it may be a good idea to make another addition to that list. Depending on who you talk to the opinions can range from " those companies are raising... Read More
I love cool marketing that thinks a little differently and gets creative. One of my favorites this winter has been the Halex GT robots that pick weeds out of corn fields. With precision accuracy the robot inspects the weeds from the field and minimizes adverse crop competition for the corn plant. At the London Farm... Read More
The cereal leaf beetle traditionally has been a minor pest in Canada. Western Canada has begun to see some of the damage as it has moved north from the United States. Scott Meers, Alberta Agriculture states that the cereal leaf beetle has not yet moved above Highway One but should still be a concern for... Read More
GPS has become a major component of in-tractor technology. For many of the applications of GPS, once you have them you sometimes wonder how you did certain things before hand. Auto-steer is one of those GPS applications that has received lots of marketing and as time moves on more and more farmers are experiencing the... Read More
Precision agriculture has become a much more popular production management on many farms in Canada. One of the newer precision technologies in the marketplace is precision irrigation. The idea is very similar to other variable rate technologies which allow for the prescription applications of inputs. In this case its about applying water to your crop... Read More