A memorial service is expected to be held in the late spring or early summer of the new year for Ted Allen, who passed away Sept. 9 at age 83. Longtime readers of Grainews will remember Ted as the last president and chair of United Grain Growers (UGG), a position he held from 1990 until […] Read more
Ted Allen, 1941-2024
A conveyor of a different colour
Bidding closes soon for AGI’s rose-coloured rig
If you’ve been through southwestern Saskatchewan lately and seen a very unusually-coloured conveyor, you’re not hallucinating. Nor has Mary Kay gone into grain handling. Rather, the Swift Current, Sask. manufacturing team for grain handling equipment maker AGI has rolled out this one-of-a-kind Batco UCX³ 1549 belt conveyor model for online auction as a fundraiser for […] Read more
New Brunswick ag minister headed for opposition bench
Liberals topple Higgs' Tory government in election
New Brunswick's incumbent agriculture minister and opposition ag critic are bound for a legislature under new management following Monday night's election.
B.C.’s ag minister downed in fraught election
Governing party to be confirmed next week as votes recounted
Pam Alexis, the minister of agriculture and food for David Eby's New Democrats since late 2022, was defeated in her constituency of Abbotsford-Mission in Saturday night's election by Conservative challenger Reann Gasper, by a spread of almost 2,700 votes.
Expect stalks and stubble to become more stabby
Also: rubber is most prone to trouble from stubble when brand new, before it can harden naturally
Don’t let its adorable little yellow flowers from the summer fool you — canola today can be “like little rebar” in your tractor tires. That was a late takeaway from an ag tire clinic for farmers at Melfort, Sask. in July, hosted by staff from retailer Kal Tire and manufacturer Firestone Ag. It’s not that […] Read more
Editor’s Rant: The message of the medium
I’ve certainly lived in enough places where the FM options on your car radio all fade away before arrival. So even if it’s not my first choice in the car or anywhere, if you’re worried about the potential disappearance of AM radio service, you won’t need to work hard to convince me. My own personal […] 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
Editor’s Rant: Seeds, saved
Against a changing climate, this is how we adapt
Before we all get much farther into this book, it needs to be said: Folks, we’re not trying to bright-side climate change here. It’s far beyond dispute that Earth’s climate is changing — in part due to natural factors over time such as changes in the sun’s radiation and the occasional volcano, but mainly due […] Read more
New tools clear paths for canola’s next steps
Gene editing, artificial intelligence bring new efficiencies to the process
Recent technological advancements applied to canola breeding are already making selection a more efficient process. On an industry panel during Ag in Motion in July, asked about what’s next in the canola development pipeline, breeders and developers with Bayer spoke of the new processes and pathways they can now use to get there. One significant […] Read more
Editor’s Rant: Bumper sticklers
Crop forecasting is a thankless job, but necessary
They were good calls at the time. Just a few weeks ago a clutch of farm writers from across Canada converged on Glacier FarmMedia’s Ag in Motion show west of Saskatoon. Some of those writers, myself included, drove past quite a lot of handsome crops en route. In some stretches, the usually blue watery mirages […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
