Using farms as living laboratories can help researchers speed up knowledge transfer.

Turning on-farm experience into science

Collaborative models are helping farmers reduce risk and researchers more quickly establish best management practices tailored to local conditions

Combining scientific discipline with farmers’ knack for figuring things out on the fly could vastly reduce the risks associated with adopting new crops or production practices on the farm, an industry extension worker says. Daryl Domitruk, director of research and production for the Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers (MPSG), says marrying the two approaches can



Go malting

Go malting

Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre issues annual variety list to aid growers

Pondering what barley variety to sow this spring? The Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre (CMBTC) has released its annual list of malting barley varieties that hold the most promise for producers in terms of performance, quality and marketability. The 2019-20 edition includes varieties that have been pilot-scale tested by the CMBTC and which exhibit good

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Klassen: Feeder market ends year on firm tone

Compared to last week, western Canadian feeder markets traded $3-$5 higher. Auction barns in the major feeding regions of Alberta had limited numbers on offer last week; therefore, major operations were sourcing feeders from farther distances. While most feedlots are carrying sufficient numbers, year-end buying was able set the market on a firm tone. April



Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association chair Fred Greig says creating crop committees will address concerns raised about directors’ workload and crop representation if five Manitoba commodity groups amalgamate.

Commodity group merger revised

The new proposal will address concerns from farmer-members

Five Manitoba commodity groups have revised their amalgamation proposal. It now includes four crop committees to address concerns around director workload and crop representation and want members’ input until votes on merging are held in February 2020. “We heard the concerns expressed on the original proposal,” Fred Greig, chair of the Manitoba Wheat and Barley


(Boortmalt.com)

European malting giant to buy Cargill Malt business

Cargill’s Prairie Malt plant in western Saskatchewan is destined for new European ownership under a deal publicly proposed Thursday. The Boortmalt Group, the malting arm of French agricultural co-operative Axereal, has announced its “intention to enter into an agreement” to buy Cargill Malt from the U.S. agrifood firm for an undisclosed sum. Boortmalt, which bills

(Chictype/iStock/Getty Images)

Labatt to partner with Tilray to tap cannabis drink market

Toronto | Reuters — Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, and Canadian pot producer Tilray Inc. are partnering in a US$100 million joint venture to research cannabis-infused non-alcoholic drinks for the Canadian market, the companies said Wednesday. The alliance, the latest in a string of deals by global alcohol and tobacco giants in Canada’s cannabis


GrainsConnect Canada, whose terminal under construction at Maymont, Sask., is shown here, plans to open an elevator at Huxley, Alta. in 2019. (GrainsConnect.com)

GrainCorp says offer not certain enough to make recommendation

Reuters — Australia’s GrainCorp Ltd. on Wednesday said it was providing suitor Long-Term Asset Partners (LTAP) due diligence to put forward a more certain proposal. The country’s largest listed bulk grain handler earlier on Dec. 3 received a buyout proposal from little-known asset manager LTAP in an all-cash deal for A$2.38 billion (C$2.303 billion), or