While the price of urea fertilizer has spiked at the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Milton bears down on Florida, that increase is unlikely to affect Canadian farmers much, said MarketsFarm analyst Bruce Burnett.
Fertilizer
Hurricane unlikely to fuel long-term fertilizer price increase, analyst says
Biologicals aren’t the silver bullet
The products can be complements, not replacements, for other inputs
Glacier FarmMedia — Biological products have been touted as replacements for synthetic chemistry and fertilizer in crop production, but that may be a false promise. According to one pitch, if farmers add biological X to the soil, they can cut nitrogen rates by 15 pounds per acre. According to another, biological Y can control a […] Read more
Nitrogen-fixing biologicals fall short at field level
Challenges remain for products to achieve their hoped-for potential
Glacier FarmMedia — Dave Franzen is a straight shooter. If he doesn’t know the answer, the North Dakota State University soil scientist will admit it; if he does, he’ll tell you. As an example, in the summer of 2022 researchers from land grant universities across the north-central U.S. studied commercially available, biological nitrogen-fixing products to […] Read more
A visit from the aunties
Eppich News: Hot weather meant more tree watering and some creative air conditioning on the ranch
July stayed hot and dry. Gregory kept working away at the ditch hay and John worked as much summerfallow as he could. I was able to keep the main floor of the house a pleasant temperature as long as I did all the cooking on the barbecue, but the upstairs, where we sleep, would get […] Read more
Perceptions and misconceptions versus realities in agriculture
Practical Research: In the court of public opinion, the drama can fog the facts
Since my retirement from Alberta Agriculture in 2002 I’ve acted as a legal expert in a number of lawsuits. Often, when a farmer is sued by a lawyer on behalf of a client, the farmer will immediately seek his own lawyer or lawyers for advice. While the lawyer may be well apprised of provincial and […] Read more
Redefining a ranch
Holistic management has made the Guilford ranch more efficient — and it carries more cattle
Don and Diane Guilford have been practicing holistic management on their 1,200-acre ranch near Clearwater, Man. since the early 1980s. Don is the third generation of his family in that region and says holistic management has made a big difference in his success as a farmer. He took his first course with Allan Savory at […] Read more
Editor’s Rant: The traveller’s dilemma
I note with interest that the organization formerly known as the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association has picked a venue for its next annual convention. I mean “with interest” as in “I’ll be interested to see if they get the same blowback they got 25 years ago, but I’m betting not.” The group, which recently […] Read more
Feeling the pinch
Uncertainty across commodity and input markets creates difficult choices for farmers
Farmers are facing a tight squeeze this fall. Commodity prices are low, and the lower input prices that they’re used to this time of year are not materializing. Keystone Agricultural Producers president Jill Verwey says it’s a tough time for growers. “Being able to make a profit this year is going to be pretty slim,” […] Read more
Organic fertilizer made from calamari? I squid you not
Squid Juice repurposes by-product waste from calamari processing and converts it into liquid organic fertilizer.
Strip tillage reducing erosion risk
For this Alberta farmer, the practice is one tool to protect vulnerable crops from the blast of prevailing winds
John Kolk hasn’t ironed out all the wrinkles involved in getting a crop seeded and growing while reducing or eliminating the risk of soil erosion, but the southern Alberta farmer has made “significant progress.” In recent years, a combination of practices that include cover crops and strip tillage have helped to hold the soil in […] Read more