It’s like an episode of the old TV show “The Twilight Zone” — farmers repeatedly spray their crops but the weeds refuse to die. But that’s reality for many farmers in the mid-southern United States. Glyphosate, “the world’s greatest herbicide,” is no longer effective there due to an explosion of glyphosate-resistant weeds caused by a
Glyphosate-resistant weeds a real and present danger
Canadian farmers are being warned to be careful not to lose their most precious weed-control resource
Low canola prices around for a while, Ag Days crowd told
Market analysts Brenda Tjaden Lepp and Larry Weber delivered a similar bearish outlook
Don’t expect higher canola prices any time soon, unless bad weather affects production later this year, according to two market analysts who spoke at Ag Days Jan. 21. “Is the party over for canola? I’m sorry, it is for a while,” said Larry Weber of Weber Commodities in Saskatoon. “We’re going to need a drought
Lower prices and higher costs a recipe for trouble
The University of Manitoba’s Gary Martens says farmers have options, but they don’t like hearing them
After several years of good yields and good prices the party is over for western Canadian farmers, unless they change tack, according to University of Manitoba agronomy instructor Gary Martens. “I’m predicting 2014 will be a financial disaster — total disaster — because the prices (for crops) are crashing right now,” he said in an
New Canadian canola production target: 26 million tonnes by 2015
The Canola Council of Canada says almost all of the new production will come from increased yields, not more acres
After hitting its production target of 15 million tonnes average canola two years early, the Canola Council of Canada has a new one — 26 million tonnes by 2025. It says it will be achieved not by planting more acres, but through higher yields averaging 52 bushels an acre, instead of the current five-year average
Seed growers support current variety registration system
Canada has a flexible variety registration system so it doesn’t need changing, Dale Adolphe, executive director of the Canadian Seed Growers Association, told the Manitoba Seed Growers Association’s annual meeting in Winnipeg Dec. 12. But what does need changing, he added, is how quickly the federal government moves a crop kind to a different registration
Wheat variety recommending committee adopts streamlined measure
Committee chair Brian Beres says the new operating procedures are supposed to be more predictable and transparent
The variety registration process for western Canadian wheat is being streamlined, but scientific merit assessment of disease resistance, agronomy and end-use quality will continue. This and other changes overwhelmingly approved in a vote Dec. 5, 2013 by members of the Prairie Recommending Committee for Wheat, Rye and Triticale (PRCWRT), will make the recommending process more
Warmer West good for corn/soybean expansion
But future weather will be just as variable as now so crops will still be at risk to frost, excess moisture and drought
Much of Western Canada is getting more frost-free days, on average, than it used to, which bodes well for expanding corn and soybean acreage. “But please note in any given year the variation is 20 to 25 days,” University of Manitoba associate professor, Paul Bullock told the annual Manitoba Agronomists Conference last month. An area
Stephen Fox awarded an honorary life membership in seed growers’ association
Stephen Fox is a canola breeder now, but his success developing new hard red spring wheats for western Canadian farmers was recognized Dec. 11 when the Manitoba Seed Growers Association (MSGA), presented him with an honorary life membership during its annual awards banquet in Winnipeg. Fox, who joined Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) in 2001,
$17- billion CWB lawsuit rejected, farmers consider appeal
Farmers seeking federal compensation for loss of the Canadian Wheat Board’s assets are considering whether to appeal a Federal Court ruling rejecting their lawsuit or follow the judge’s instructions to launch a different claim. Justice Tremblay-Lamer, in a written ruling rendered Nov. 29, dismissed six of the seven claims found in a $17.06-billion class-aaction lawsuit
CN a bit under, CP a bit over revenue cap in 2012-13
KAP’s Doug Chorney says it shows the railways aren’t competing to transport grain
CN Rail was $6.3 million under its statutory revenue cap for shipping western Canadian grain to export terminals in the 2012-13 crop year but CP Rail exceeded its limit by $177,961, the Canadian Transportation Agency said in a news release Dec. 16. Under the Canadian Transportation Act, the railways must remit excess revenues, plus a