Instead, one of the questions I probably get asked the most is this: What weather websites do I use the most?

bezte.ca/weather

The hands-down winner is my own website. After more years than I care to say, I finally updated my website about eight months ago. Now, I am not a web developer by any means, but I used to do some dabbling in HTML coding years ago. So, how hard could it be to update my website? A lot harder than I thought! Lucky for me, I am pretty good at looking at examples of coding used on other websites and figuring things out, at least to some degree. Using that knowledge and some good website-building lesson sites, I think I patched together a half-decent website. Oh, I should mention, that my website on a smartphone is a little pared down compared to a computer or tablet, though most of the links are there.

In all honesty, while I like sharing my data with whomever wants it or finds it useful, my main purposes for the site are to check on the weather conditions at my place when I am not around, and to have easy access to the weather website links that I use the most. So, besides my website, here is a list of my favourite sites that I find most useful, along with a brief description of them.

www.tropicaltidbits.com

While it might sound strange that a tropical weather website is my go-to site, what I find useful on the site is the link to the forecast models. This gives you access to all the available weather models and lays it out in what I find to be a very easy-to-use and understandable manner. I mostly use the Global and Climate links on the Weather Model page. Under Global you will find the GFS weather model, which I think is one of the more accurate models. You can also find a link to the CMC weather model, which is the Canadian model. This model can be more accurate when it comes to weather patterns originating out of the north and in the winter. The Climate link gives you access to several medium- and long-range weather models. The easiest way to see what is available on this website is to check it out and play around with all the different types of maps that are available. The links on my website under Wx Models will take you to the weather models I use the most on this site.

www.weather.cod.edu

This weather website is brought to you by the College of DuPage. I mostly use this site for satellite images. On my website the links would be found under Sat./Radar. On the DuPage site the satellite link is found under Weather Analyses Tools. I am all for having a lot of choice and with this site that is exactly what you get for satellite images. There are 16 different bands or wavelengths that allow you to view what is going on in the atmosphere above North America, ranging from visible and infrared, to vegetation or snow and ice.

http://wxmaps.org/pix/temp2

This link can be found under my Fcst./Sv. Wx menu and is called “14-day outlook.” This link loads three images of North America. The first two images show the forecasted mean temperature for each of the next two weeks. The final image shows how those temperatures will compare to average. This can give you a quick look at what the upcoming temperature trend might be. You usually have to check this link every day to see if forecasts are holding their predictions from day to day, or if they are changing dramatically. Dramatic changes over a short period of time tell you there is not a lot of consistency in the weather models and we may be seeing a change in the overall weather pattern.

https://kamala.cod.edu/Canada/latest.focn45.CWWG.html

The link on my website for this site is called Discussion and is found under Local Wx. As the name implies, this is the significant weather discussion issued by the Prairie and Arctic Storm Prediction Centre. The discussion gives a bit of a deeper insight into the weather and thought processes of the people creating the forecasts across the Prairies. Sometimes it’s a little short and lacking information, while other times it goes into great detail. Either way, it’s almost always an interesting read.

https://weather.gc.ca

Good old Environment Canada. I still like using it for forecasts, local conditions, severe weather watches and warnings and weather radar. I don’t always agree with its forecasts, especially after looking at the weather models myself, but I find it helps to either confirm my own forecast thoughts or it makes me take a second look at the weather models. As for watches and warnings: as it is the one issuing them, it only makes sense to go directly to the source.

I don’t have room to discuss all of the links I have under “Misc. Wx.” Maybe we’ll look at those in an upcoming article. Until then, have fun checking out all the links mentioned above and be sure to let me know if you have any questions.

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The urgency driving such transactions may cause ranchers, farmers and farm workers to make purchases “without taking time to properly verify or research production sources,” Alberta RCMP’s financial crimes team said in a release Thursday.

So far this year across Alberta’s Mountie-policed jurisdictions, various actors have scammed victims out of about $64,000, RCMP said, and “with many cases potentially not being reported, this figure could be higher.”

Recently, the Mounties said, fraudsters have been setting up listings for hay on social media and buy-and-sell platforms — and are “requesting immediate payment before buyers have the opportunity to research the producer, see the product, or receive delivery.”

Evansburg and Grande Prairie RCMP this summer each received similar reports of transactions on the Facebook Marketplace platform, in which “a quantity of money” was sent via e-transfer but no hay was delivered and the funds were lost.

In reported cases, lost individual deposits ranged from a minimum of $1,000 to over $5,000.

RCMP in Saskatchewan issued a warning earlier this summer about similar scams, in which several farmers sent funds in advance for hay that never materialized.

It’s worth noting, RCMP said Thursday, that the potential buyers who were able to avoid being scammed are those who “refused to give deposits in advance, insisted upon speaking on the phone, and had paid cash upon delivery of goods.”

Among the “key indicators” of a potential hay scam on an online platform, RCMP said:

• sellers will typically only communicate through text messaging and avoid phone conversations;
• while sellers can be located anywhere in the world, they get the attention of buyers by showing a specific or specialized knowledge of hay products;
• the stated price will be “attractively low” and “consistent with the previous year’s market price;” and
• the seller will often insist on a deposit of about 50 per cent, but once that deposit is received, excuses about delayed delivery may follow, “and then communication stops.”

On a more positive note, the need for hay in drought-damaged regions of the West also led to the launch this summer of several initiatives to ship donated hay from Eastern Canada.

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s Hay West 2021 program on Tuesday picked up a $25,000 contribution from Farm Credit Canada to help cover shipping costs for westbound feed. FCC also said it will put up another $25,000 in matching funds if the CFA is able to secure another $25,000 contribution.

Information about Hay West 2021 for farmers looking to supply or purchase hay is available online. –– Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Both outdoor ag shows hosted by Winnipeg-based Glacier FarmMedia — the owner of this website — went online in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with video presentations and demos, webinars and chats in lieu of in-person events and displays.

“There is still so much uncertainty in 2021, and while we are all missing in-person farm shows, we wanted to give producers something certain they could count on: timely information throughout the year,” GFM executive vice-president Lynda Tityk said Wednesday in a release.

Show attendees “told us that more frequent information provided in smaller chunks throughout the year would be most helpful for planning in 2021,” she said.

COFS and AiM each now offer online registrants a free “Digital Pass,” granting admission to six themed one-day digital events throughout the year with presentations on planting, growing, equipment, harvest, dairy and innovation topics.

Industry expert sessions and demonstrations and research and technology updates are also planned, the company said, while on-demand content will be available in between digital event days.

COFS’ first such event is scheduled for March 10, while the first online AiM event is set for March 24, the company said.

On digital event days, the two ag shows will also each host a virtual “Coffee Shop” for farmers, speakers and industry reps to gather at small “virtual tables” to ask questions and video chat in an “informal setting,” GFM said.

In non-pandemic years, Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show runs in September near Woodstock, Ont., while Ag in Motion runs in July at Glacier FarmMedia Discovery Farm near Langham, Sask., west of Saskatoon. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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“An in-person gathering of the magnitude and impact we had hoped to make for our conference delegates is simply not feasible in these strange times,” the Manitoba Forage and Grassland Association (MFGA) said in a news release, “but that doesn’t mean we can’t try our best to put together a great showcase for regenerative agriculture, healthy soils and healthy lands.”

The live, online event will take place over four Thursday evenings in November.

Advocates of the movement say regenerative agriculture focuses on producing food while improving soil and natural ecosystems.

“There’s so much information available online already that we didn’t want to discourage anyone from taking part in our celebration,” Ryan Boyd, finance chair of MFGA, said. “I have been in really good discussions with our previously announced keynote speakers and each one has agreed to put a very strong Manitoba flavour into their presentations and also be available for a post-presentation facilitated question-and-answer session.”

Speakers will include Diana Rodgers, a nutritionist who speaks internationally about the intersection of optimal human nutrition and regenerative agriculture.

Another speaker, Nicole Masters, is an agroecologist. Her team of “soil coaches” through her business, Integrity Soils, work with producers in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand to increase profitability and environmental outcomes.

Mark Shepard heads the Forest Agriculture Nursery in Wisconsin and runs New Forest Farm, a 106-acre commercial-scale perennial agricultural ecosystem that was converted from a row-crop grain farm. Shepard is also the author of the book Restoration Agriculture: Real-World Permaculture for Farmers.

Brenda Tjaden is a food economist and marketer from Birds Hill, Man. Her company, Sustainable Grain, provides guidance to commercial farms on regenerative agriculture strategies. She also works with small farms to develop new local food economies.

Boyd will also present his 2019 Nuffield Scholarship findings.

The show will also feature an online trade show.

The MFGA will also host two socially distanced on-farm tours before November, the association has said. Fees will be collected at the tours for 2021 MFGA memberships.

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With consumers still limiting their trips outdoors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said it would invest more to expand the pickup and delivery operation while aiming to reduce costs.

The move is part of a larger trend among Canadian retailers. Earlier this week, Walmart Canada said it plans to spend $3.5 billion over the next five years to strengthen its e-commerce business.

A 280 per cent surge in e-commerce sales lifted Loblaw’s revenue about 7.4 per cent to $11.96 billion in the second quarter ended June 13. That beat analysts’ estimates of $11.87 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv .

Adjusted net earnings fell nearly 29 per cent to $266 million, or 74 cents per share, due to employee bonuses. Analysts had expected a profit of 71 cents per share.

The company’s food retail same-stores sales rose 10 per cent in the quarter.

— Reporting for Reuters by Uday Sampath in Bangalore.

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The Livestock Market Association of Canada (LMAC) last week held an emergency meeting on how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, and decided to follow Health Canada’s lead on limiting crowd size and encouraging social distancing and sanitation during sales.

“Certainly everybody can appreciate that we’re in the heart of our bull sale season here in Canada and it’s one of those times of year where we actually need commerce to take place between buyers and sellers,” Michael Latimer, executive director of the Canadian Beef Breeds Council, said during an online town hall outlining the beef industry’s response to the pandemic.

“I think it’s pretty clear that our leadership doesn’t want food production to shut down,” Jason Danard, vice-president at Calgary Stockyards and an LMAC director, said in an interview.

As part of the pandemic response, auction marts are encouraging people to register online to watch or bid on bull sales. During an interview, Mark Shologan, purebred sales director at online platform DLMS, said it’s seen a “major spike” in online bidding in recent days.

Danard, who’s also a principal at online platform TEAM, also noted a surge of new online registrants last week. It’s like nothing he’s seen in his 20 years of offering online sales.

A few days ago, Danard had a bull sale with Travis Foote of Footprint Farms. Foote was prepared for an online bidding, having posted video of the bulls online before the sale.

“There were bulls where the only bidding was online,” Danard said, noting most producers are familiar with online sales, and TEAM’s employees aren’t seeing any issues out of the ordinary.

He did bring in two extra people to help with tech support later in the week, he said, to deal with the influx of people registering online.

Staff aren’t seeing any major issues with the number of new registrants at DLMS either, Shologan said. He suggested producers sign up early.

Producers in rural areas should also limit the number of devices connecting to the internet, to avoid overwhelming connections during the sale.

Auction marts are also changing how they do business on-site. Last week, only employees were allowed in Calgary Stockyards’ office, and only buyers were allowed in the ring. The kitchen was also closed.

Danard was pleased to see people at the auction mart complying with the new measures. People were practicing social distancing, and only showing up at the auction mart if they had a reason to be there.

“I’m proud of how we’re responding as an industry,” he said.

However, given how quickly the situation around the pandemic is changing and how the allowable crowd size is shrinking, producers should phone sale organizers or auction marts before attending.

Shologan said it’s a good idea to call ahead anyway, to make sure the market is demanding the type of cattle a person wants to sell — or, for buyers, to confirm the types of cattle on offer.

Both Danard and Shologan have watched online sales grow over the years. They said the pandemic is not only speeding that process, but will likely shift more people online in the long term.

Shologan said he appreciates the camaraderie in the industry, and online sales don’t build camaraderie the way traditional bull sales do — but they are a great option when you can’t attend a sale in person, he added.

And while it wasn’t by design, Danard said, it turns out the industry was prepared coming into this pandemic.

— Lisa Guenther is the editor of Canadian Cattlemen.

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Called “Tudder” — a mix of dating app Tinder and udder — it lets farmers swipe right on cattle they like the look of.

They are then directed to a page on the SellMyLivestock website where they can browse more pictures and data about the animals before deciding whether to buy.

Valuable information is available on matters like milk yield and protein content, or calving potential, explained Doug Bairner, CEO of Hectare Agritech, which runs SellMyLivestock (SML) and Graindex, a U.K.-based online agritech trading platform.

“Matching livestock online is even easier than it is to match humans because there’s a huge amount of data that sits behind these wonderful animals that predicts what their offspring will be,” he said.

Launching just in time for Valentine’s Day, the makers believe Tudder is the first ever matchmaking app for livestock.

As with the human equivalent, farmers use smartphones to first choose whether they are looking for a male or female, swiping through photos — right for yes and left for no — until they find a match.

Putting data at their fingertips connects farmers from all over the country, making trading easier.

Cattle farmer and Tudder user James Bridger said it eases transport stress for animals and may rival traditional markets.

“You’ve got all this data of its background and everything which if you’re at a market you might not have had the time to go through for every single random animal,” he told Reuters in the southern English county of Hampshire.

“There’s nothing better than seeing an animal in its home, its natural habitat, rather than putting it on a lorry … if someone rings up and wants to come and have a look, or even getting it from the picture, it’s ideal really from that respect, and they’re happier for it.”

SellMyLivestock has listed over £50 million (C$85 million) of livestock, feed and bedding to sell in the last year, dispelling notions that farmers are stuck in the past, Bairner said.

“Despite the rest of the world’s view of farming, it’s actually very technologically driven,” he said, citing precision spraying, automated dairy units and genetic science.

— Reporting for Reuters by Matthew Stock.

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In what it describes as the “first and only full range” of online contracting options for farmers in Western Canada, Viterra launched its new system on its myViterra platform in December.

A Prairie grain grower with a myViterra account can use the online option to create basis, flat priced and fixed futures contracts, either on a desktop or smartphone.

The company has previously offered online target pricing, but the latest version of the system allows a producer to complete a contract “on your own time, online, 24/7,” according to Jeff Cockwill, Viterra’s director of corporate affairs.

As with the company’s online target pricing system, when a grower signs into the myViterra system, he or she has the authentication necessary to enter a binding contract.

The system, Cockwill said in an interview, is built around grain prices; a grower selects a product, searches available prices and, if an agreeable price is available, may create the online contract “right then and there.”

The online contracting system also includes tonnage limits, if need be, to keep a reasonable ceiling on the risk exposure Viterra can accept from any one myViterra account holder.

While the myViterra platform has been up and running since 2008, Viterra staff have been talking about the possibilities of a full online contracting option for about five years, Cockwill said.

Viterra’s understanding is that the option of a “full contracting suite” where a grower can go online to sell grain at a specific price for a specific month is the first of its kind on offer from a Prairie grain firm.

Kyle Jeworski, Viterra’s CEO for North America, said in a January release that initiatives such as the online contracting options “are part of our overall focus on our customers to ensure we’re acting on their feedback and aligned with their needs.”

Looking ahead, he said, “we will continue making improvements to our technology to ensure we continue to be easy to do business with.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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