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Oats

A picture is better than 1,000 words. Here is a young canola crop neatly placed between the 12-inch-high wheat stubble from the Nerbas farm last year. The wheat stubble will have caught snow to help provide better germination for the shallow-seeded canola and it shelters the canola from wind.
Columns, Crops

Les Henry: Fuzzy thinking about soils and agricultural performance

What constitutes sustainable on a farm depends on soil climatic zone and what is feasible for the area

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There seems to be a constant barrage of media comment about agriculture by folks who have little contact with real farms and little formal training in an agriculture faculty or school. Much of the discourse talks about sustainable agriculture, resiliency, regenerative agriculture and particularly soil health. There is not much detail about what the terms […] Read more
What is sustainable agriculture?
Columns, Crops

What is sustainable agriculture?

Prairie farmers have adopted some of the most sustainable practices among agricultural producers in the world

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No, sustainable agriculture is not organic farming, wildlife management, having a mixed livestock and grain system or anything else. It is efficient, effective, common sense crop production. In recent years, Prairie farmers have adopted some of the most sustainable practices among agricultural producers in the world. Contrary to the naysayers who rant about the destruction […] Read more
Photo: Thinkstock
Crops

Alberta harvest on the verge of completion

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MarketsFarm – Combining in Alberta is almost finished with the latest crop report indicating it’s at 96.3 per cent complete. The province’s Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development (AFRED) department noted that as of Oct. 4, the harvesting of all crops advanced nine points from the previous week due to dry weather. Of the 11 […] Read more
Retired winter wheat breeder Rob Graf describes some of the benefits of his new winter wheat variety AAC Coldfront. With improved yield and an improved disease package, it is a variety that appears to have a good fit across Western Canada.
Crops, Features

Improved varieties on the ground and in the pipeline

AAC Coldfront fires on all cylinders — it’s high yielding, has high quality, good standability and improved winter hardiness

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Rob Graf wrapped up his career as a plant breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada on a high note this summer as he introduced another new top-performing winter wheat variety that appears to have a great fit in all crop regions across Western Canada. At a field day on Stamp Seeds’ farm at Enchant, north […] Read more
Larry Penner plans on including winter cereal crops in his rotation for several reasons – it spreads out the workload, benefits wildlife, improves weed control and, at the end of the day, the crops are also profitable.
Cereals, Crops, Features

Benefits of winter crops outweigh the challenges

Depending on seeding conditions, the best approach may be to ‘seed shallow and pray for rain’

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As the calendar rolls around to August and September each year, south-central Alberta farmer Larry Penner finds himself in two time zones — seeding time and harvest time. For a good part of his farming career, Penner has been a believer of including a winter cereal crop in rotation. He says the timing can be […] Read more
(Dave Bedard photo)
Crops, Markets, Weather

Ending stocks tumble due to drought: StatCan

Canola stocks are below 'pipeline levels'

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MarketsFarm — Severe drought in Western Canada during the summer of 2021 has played a major part in reducing the stocks for Canada’s principal field crops at the end of the 2021-22 marketing year, according to Statistics Canada. Canada’s central data agency released a report Wednesday presenting total ending stocks for the country’s major crops […] Read more
Dave and Lynne Longshore of Bar-E-L Angus have worked with Bullseye services for years to make sure their cattle have proper nutrition at all stages of the production cycle leading to healthy, fertile bulls, and cows that produce vigorous and robust calves.
Beef Cattle, Cattleman’s Corner

Nutrition key to optimizing purebred performance

It’s all about fertile females and bulls with breeding soundness

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Dave Longshore doesn’t take any shortcuts when it comes to proper nutrition for his purebred Black Angus operation in central Alberta. It’s important to produce healthy, sound and fertile bulls that will be offered as breeding stock, and if cows and heifers aren’t fed a well-balanced ration with proper mineral supplements, that will also mean […] Read more
(Dave Bedard photo)
Crops, Markets, Weather

Greater crop production estimated prior to StatCan report

Extended time lag between survey, data's release criticized

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MarketsFarm — Analysts are expecting Canadian crop production totals for the 2022-23 marketing year to be substantially higher compared to drought-stricken 2021-22, but still not enough to fully replenish supplies. Statistics Canada (StatCan) will publish its first satellite image model-based yield and production estimates for principal field crops on Monday. Traders and analysts are interested […] Read more
Maintaining and improving soil organic matter is vital to crop production and soil health. I consider the soil micro-organisms much like a feedlot — I have to think about feeding the soil biology.” – Tim Nerbas.
Crops

Sask. farmer’s soil health approach results in ‘soil armour’

Farmer Tim Nerbas protects his soil with a layer of organic material he calls “soil armour.” He says that and other conservation farming practices to improve soil health on his farm may take time — but it’s worth the wait

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Northwest Saskatchewan farmer Tim Nerbas knows if he does the best job of managing crop production above ground, it is probably providing the most benefit to all activity going on below ground. He doesn’t test to measure the amount of organic matter in the soil on his 4,000-acre grain, oilseed and pulse crop operation near […] Read more
Photo: File
Crops

Manitoba crops variable: report

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MarketsFarm – Crop development was highly variable across Manitoba during the week ended Aug. 2 depending on localized rainfall and drainage, with fields in the southern growing areas of the province generally better than those to the north, according to the latest report from Manitoba Agriculture. Localized insect concerns were reported, with some spraying required. […] Read more

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