Wilf Keller knows exactly what’s on the top of his canola wish list. Keller heads up Saskatoon’s Ag-West Bio and is well known for his contributions to early plant biotechnology work. At the recent Canola Council of Canada convention he participated in a panel discussion on past and future canola innovation. “We need to look
Canola’s biological future still bright
The crop has been a major beneficiary of good science, something researchers hope will continue as they warn of sustainability challenges
Editorial: The missing link
Canada’s sheep and goat producers had better not be counting on me to earn a living. Don’t get me wrong, they produce excellent products, but neither of these protein sources has ever been a big part of my diet. I can’t remember the last time I had a lamb chop. A few years ago now, for
Editorial: Bonanza bind
Over 100 years ago there was a land rush on the northern plains of North America. The arrival of railways suddenly opened vast tracts of land to settlement and agriculture. The world responded with a flood of humanity. These days we think of the romantic image of homesteading families from all corners of the world,
Editorial: Pre-competitive advantage
The idea of collaboration — and even mergers — among farm commodity groups has begun to find traction lately. The latest round came at the annual CropConnect conference, which brings together a number of the smaller commodity organizations at a single event where they conduct their annual general meetings. That event demonstrates the merits of
The benefits of a controlled traffic crop
Confining equipment traffic could pay production dividends
Ten years ago Adam Gurr was surfing the Internet one evening and came across an idea that would change the way he operates — controlled traffic farming. Just as the name sounds, it’s a farming system built around permanent wheel tracks in each field; the crop zones and traffic lanes are permanently separated. It leaves
Editorial: Biofuels fight
[Updated March 2, 2017]: What would a world with another five billion bushels of corn on the market look like? I am willing to bet that the grain growers among our readership just felt a small blood pressure spike at the very thought, anticipating dramatically lower crop prices. That figure represents the portion of the
Phosphate products vary, but fate the same
Over time, they all want to become plant-unavailable phosphate rock
All phosphate fertilizers might not be created equal — but in the end they all wind up that way. That was the message Don Flaten, a University of Manitoba soil science professor, shared with farmers last month during a session at Ag Days. That’s because it’s a highly reactive compound and over time, the very
New wheat class a mixed bag
Looming changes to the CNHR class will likely dilute some of the current benefits of the varieties that currently call it home
The Canadian Northern Hard Red (CNHR) wheat class is poised to expand Aug. 1, 2018 — but no one is exactly sure how the change is going to play out. The new CNHR class is already home to U.S. dark northern varieties, such as Faller, Prosper and Elgin ND. Next summer they’ll be joined by
Editorial: Playing with trains
With spring just around the corner, it’s becoming clear a big wreck in grain shipping is unlikely this winter. Despite a 76-million-tonne crop to move, big blizzards and those infamous periods of frigid winter temperatures, the system has held together. Mark Hemmes of grain monitor firm Quorum said in a recent article in the Co-operator
Editorial: Mutual respect
I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone from this industry lament that consumers just don’t understand them. They don’t realize that agriculture produces some of the safest and most readily available food in human history, these ‘agvocates’ state, all on low margins, and at high risk. From their positions of comfort in
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
