A spate of cases involving a Regina-based canola buyer has farmers across the Prairies paying attention to a legal drama between Saskatchewan producers and Input Capital, which has offered long-term “streaming contracts” for canola. In early May, CBC reported on a class-action lawsuit with six producers accusing the company of predatory lending. Morris Feduk, a
Read the fine print
Novel grain contracts require closer scrutiny
Are you rolling soybeans for the sake of rolling?
Rolling soybeans has some benefits, but also a downside
To roll or not to roll? For soybean growers, ‘tis the question. It’s become the standard strategy to keep dirt and rocks out of the combine come harvest, but Manitoba Agriculture says it may be time to take a second look at the practice. “We want to reduce earth tag,” Terry Buss, pulse specialist with
Thin canola stands mean less margin for error for flea beetles
The Prairie Pest Monitoring Network warns that farmers may want to spray once flea beetles start eating a quarter or more of cotyledon leaf space
The flea beetles are out, and Manitoba Agriculture is reminding farmers to keep economic thresholds in mind when scouting their canola. Manitoba Agriculture oilseeds specialist Dane Froese says beetle management might need some adjusting, depending on crop emergence. At the same time, dry conditions have farmers casting a careful eye on stand numbers. Froese had
Selling the farm life, byte by byte
Producers are turning to the internet to market their farms and their practices
It’s not hard to keep track of what’s happening on Steppler Farms, west of Miami. A quick scroll through their blogs, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter feeds shows pictures taken in the field, videos of feeding cattle, links to articles and posts on everything from beehive management to family birthdays. On screen, Ian Steppler appears in
Four sectors focus of Ag Action Manitoba
Some application deadlines are less than a month away
The province has released the first round of Ag Action Manitoba funding guidelines for the $176-million Manitoba interpretation of the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Their next challenge will be hitting the application deadlines, some of which are June 22. Four sectors have been earmarked for specific projects in the first year of assurance funding. The province
Concern raised over flagging forage
Manitoba’s dry spell needs to break soon, or it could mean bad news for forage crops in the west. For some winterkilled crops, though, it’s already too late
Forage crops are off to a rough start. Producers and provincial experts say forages got a double hit this spring, with strained crops failing to survive the winter while those that made it through still struggle with slow growth. Ken Harms, who produces hay near Snowflake, says subpar stands in his area actually ran into
Stay stuck on safety when stuck in the field
Getting stuck can lead to more than just frustration if the hook slips at the wrong moment. Manitoba’s Farm Safety Program is urging farmers to think twice about safety in muddy fields
It happened in a second. Wawanesa farmer Simon Ellis had been attempting to pull a grain truck from a muddy field last year when the tow hook he had been using broke, snapping the rope and it back in a narrow miss of his cab window. Caught on video, Ellis posted about the incident on
Winter cereals (mostly) dodge winterkill woes
Winter cereals are looking good this spring, with exceptions in the Interlake and central Manitoba around Winnipeg and Selkirk
Winter wheat mostly came through the bitterly cold stretches in December and January and extended chill this spring. The first crop report of the season was mostly good news for the few farmers who got winter cereals in the ground last year. Western Manitoba has good regrowth so far, according to the province, although some
Organic acres up, farmer numbers stable
The Prairie Organic Grain Initiative says a survey shows lots of new organic acres, but just a handful of new organic farmers
Manitoba and Saskatchewan couldn’t match Alberta’s explosion of new organic producers in 2016, but local experts say their gains have been in acres, not farms. Alberta gained 82 certified producers (counting livestock operations) from 2015-16, according to the 2016 Organic Agriculture in the Prairies report. Saskatchewan and Manitoba, meanwhile, only added 16 producers each. Acres,
Organic processing in Manitoba a bright spot
The numbers look slim, but experts say Manitoba’s modest processing increases in 2016 miss part of the story
Manitoba had one more organic processor in 2016 than 2015, according to the last Organic Agriculture in the Prairies report, but provincial organics expert Laura Telford says the view might be more optimistic than that implies. “The report doesn’t release the type of processing. I think what we’re seeing there is an increase in primary