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	GrainewsArticles by John Morriss - Grainews	</title>
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	<description>Practical production tips for the prairie farmer</description>
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		<title>Extending information to farmers</title>

		<link>
		https://www.grainews.ca/columns/40-years-of-sharing-agricultural-research-with-farmers/		 </link>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Nov 2016 20:20:28 +0000</pubDate>
				<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Morriss]]></dc:creator>
						<category><![CDATA[Columns]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[agronomy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Les Henry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soil]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.grainews.ca/?p=60629</guid>
				<description><![CDATA[<p>Looking back on Les Henry’s 40 years of Grainews columns causes me to reflect on how most things have improved in Prairie agriculture, though a few haven’t. I got my start as first field editor of Grainews in 1976, around the same time as Les started writing his columns. One of my first stories was on the proper</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/columns/40-years-of-sharing-agricultural-research-with-farmers/">Extending information to farmers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
]]></description>
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Looking back on Les Henry’s 40 years of <em>Grainews</em> columns causes me to reflect on how most things have improved in Prairie agriculture, though a few haven’t. I got my start as first field editor of <em>Grainews</em> in 1976, around the same time as Les started writing his columns. One of my first stories was on the proper incorporation of Avadex — twice at 90 degrees, with harrows. Avadex has had a second life recently, but the method of application has certainly improved.</p>
<p>What hasn’t improved? The list is much shorter, but when Leeann said she wanted to have a page celebrating the value of extension, it reminded me that one item on my list is that the word seems to have almost disappeared lately. The Canadian Society of Extension, once an active forum for extending academic theory into farm practice, disbanded a few years ago. That decline in the use of the word coincided with — or was due to — a decline in public research, particularly at the federal level.</p>
<p>One of the reasons I became interested in agriculture was reading James Gray’s <em>Men Against the Desert</em>, which described the origin of the PFRA and how government scientists literally saved western Canadian agriculture by teaching farmers new techniques to save and reclaim their soil. That was extension — extending theory to practice — at its best.</p>
<p>It’s not that there aren’t some wonderful public and private agronomists out there today. But it seems that so much of the discussion these days focuses on yield. It’s important, but there are other goals in farming, such as ensuring it’s sustainable for the long term, especially by protecting the soil.</p>
<p>Les understands that very well. I searched through all his columns so far this year, and the word “yield” appears only three times. The words “soil” and “water” occur too many times to count. You often hear farmers say “There would be no food without farmers,” but it’s equally true that there would be no farmers without soil.</p>
<p><em>Grainews</em> was an immediate hit in its early days, mainly because of founding publisher John Clark’s insistence of the theme of being “written for farmers by farmers” — in other words, in language they can understand. With all due respect to academics, and again, there are many doing wonderful work today, I find that they are almost always great speakers at meetings. But when it comes to putting the same clear language on paper, they often revert to academic-ese.</p>
<p>Not Les, no doubt because he wears two hats — academic and farmer. So much of what he writes is about what happens on his own farm, and that he understands the relationship between theory and practice.</p>
<p>Les doesn’t just help us understand anions and cations — he sometimes veers into other farm-related topics, including the book he wrote on catalogue houses. Those columns reassure me that there’s still some life in the notion of “extension” and all it implies for the health of farms and farm families.</p>
<p>And not only are his columns clear and understandable, they’re delivered on time — and have been for 40 years, which must be some kind of record. Editors have certainly appreciated that, I’m sure that readers have as well.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Praise for Les</h2>
<p><strong>Tells it like it is</strong></p>
<p>I would guess that Les Henry knows more farmers, has visited more farms and has spoken at more community halls in Saskatchewan than any other U of S professor&#8230; and no one else has written more columns in <em>Grainews</em>.</p>
<p>Les understands and appreciates the science of agriculture as well as the art and business of farming… and he knows how to connect all of these together in a timely, entertaining, understandable and memorable way.</p>
<p>Les’s style is to tell it the way it is, as directly and simply as possible. For example, in a recent <em>Grainews</em> article on soil health, Les explained that a soil’s water content at its “permanent wilt point” was when “the plants suck the water until the soil sucks back so hard the plants croak.” Compare Les’s definition to the official definition, which is”the largest water content of a soil at which indicator plants, growing in that soil, wilt and fail to recover when placed in a humid chamber. Often estimated by the water content at -1.5 MPa soil matric potential.”</p>
<p>Which of these definitions will most people understand and remember?</p>
<p>Les is a great soil scientist and educator; he’s also a wonderful person. I always look forward to reading his columns and meeting with him. Let’s hope he never retires!</p>
<p><em>Don Flaten, Professor, Dept. of Soil Science, University of Manitoba</em></p>
<p><strong>Inspiring students</strong></p>
<p>I wrote my fourth year thesis under Les. Les instilled that developments have to work in the field for farmers. He ran a small farm and that’s what made him think that way.</p>
<p>When I took over my mom and dad’s farm in 1986, I wanted to zero till. The research was telling us what to do, but nothing was really available to do it with. So we ended up building our own. Background information from university, from guys like Les and Don Rennie was really influential.</p>
<p>Any time I saw Les he’d come and compliment us on it. He even sent me a letter. It was quite nice to get a letter from your prof.</p>
<p><em>Pat Beaujot, founder and director strategic market development, Seed Hawk, Inc.</em></p>
<p><strong>Inspiration to researchers</strong></p>
<p>Les was and is an inspiration for me, and a mentor. I do a lot of extension, communication of my research results. One way is scientific papers, but it was my opinion rather early on, and Les helped instill this in me, that’s it’s really important to get out there and spread your research work directly to the farmers and the people of Saskatchewan. Really, what that means is the rubber hitting the road. Les really showed me the ropes in what was involved in getting out there and talking to people. Les instilled in me a desire to get out there and spread the word.</p>
<p><em>Jeff Schoenau, professor of soil science, University of Saskatchewan.</em></p>
<p><strong>Extension inspiration</strong></p>
<p>Les was always an excellent example of how to be effective at conducting extension. Three-quarters of it is being entertaining, but also, and just as important, is to be accurate and correct in your information, and he is certainly both.</p>
<p><em>Curtis Cavers, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada agronomist.</em></p>
<p><strong>Flexible nurturer</strong></p>
<p>Over the 37 years that I’ve known Les, he always was a rock solid farmer and professional soil scientist, but he was flexible, not like hard pan.</p>
<p>Many of today’s successful farmers had the benefit of his fertile mind in class, at meetings, and through seminars and research. Les nurtured young minds which have bloomed into today’s top grain and forage producers. Thanks for your generous contribution to Western Canada’s farming industry.</p>
<p><em>Andy Sirski, former Grainews editor, Grainews columnist.</em></p>
<p><strong>Extension training</strong></p>
<p>Les has been a very prominent figure in prairie agriculture. Les was on my advisory committee and examination committee when I did my PhD at the U of S many years ago. Les made sure to constantly grill me on the practical applications my research would have. That has always stuck with me.</p>
<p><em>Ross McKenzie, retired research scientist, Grainews columnist.</em></p>
<p><strong>Working with fellow scientists</strong></p>
<p>Les is very quick to compliment his fellow scientists, and his own work was always very, very practical. He’s the kind of person that is always learning, looking and learning.</p>
<p><em>Plant pathologist Ieuan Evans, senior agri-Coach with AgriTrend, a division of Trimble.</em></p>
<p><strong>Plain language</strong></p>
<p>Les’s “tell it like it is” or “tell it as I see it” approach to column writing suits Grainews perfectly. Even after leaving <em>Grainews</em>, I still contact Les if I need advice on an idea. He gives straight answers, including, “You are spinning your wheels. Farmers pay no attention to such things,” which is verbatim from a recent email.</p>
<p>I share links to Les’s column through my @CanolaWatch Twitter handle. I remember one from a couple years ago on the connection between combine speed and canola harvest losses. Harvest was moving along well that fall so Les had some time on the combine to run a speed test. He slowed right down and compared the yield for ultra slow combining (something like one m.p.h.) versus normal speed. The difference shocked him. So he wrote about it. Fantastic! His blend of on-farm experience and hunger to keep testing new ideas is priceless. Thanks Les! Prairie agriculture needs a few more writers like you.</p>
<p><em>Jay Whetter, communication manager, Canola Council of Canada, former Grainews editor.</em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/columns/40-years-of-sharing-agricultural-research-with-farmers/">Extending information to farmers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
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		<title>Morriss: Cell companies bad, railways good?</title>

		<link>
		https://www.grainews.ca/daily/morriss-cell-companies-bad-railways-good/		 </link>
		<pubDate>Wed, 04 Dec 2013 06:34:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Morriss, GFM Network News]]></dc:creator>
						<category><![CDATA[Crops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Machinery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Markets]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.grainews.ca/daily/morriss-cell-companies-bad-railways-good/</guid>
				<description><![CDATA[<p>Just as there&#8217;s good stress and bad stress, there&#8217;s good excitement and bad excitement. There&#8217;s the good excitement you get when watching the Grey Cup, especially if you&#8217;re a Riders fan. Then there&#8217;s the other kind of excitement (as in riled up) you got watching this year&#8217;s Grey Cup commercials about how the Harper Government</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/morriss-cell-companies-bad-railways-good/">Morriss: Cell companies bad, railways good?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
]]></description>
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just as there&#8217;s good stress and bad stress, there&#8217;s good excitement and bad excitement. There&#8217;s the good excitement you get when watching the Grey Cup, especially if you&#8217;re a Riders fan. Then there&#8217;s the other kind of excitement (as in riled up) you got watching this year&#8217;s Grey Cup <a href="http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/icgc.nsf/eng/07389.html?Open&amp;wtpromo=More_Choices">commercials</a> about how the Harper Government is stomping on those big bad cell phone companies.</p>
<p>This follows the speech from the throne, in which we were told the government would defend citizens against those evil cable providers. Isn&#8217;t it nice to know that a &#8220;conservative&#8221; government that preaches the virtues of free markets and staying out of citizens&#8217; business will pass an act of Parliament to let you subscribe to the Space channel without having to pay the full three bucks a month to get Spike, History and Bravo as well? And then use your tax money to tell you about it?</p>
<p>If you were a grain farmer watching the Grey Cup, it might have occurred to you that it seems odd that the Harper Government has one attitude toward competition in the cell phone business, but another toward the railways.</p>
<p>Speaking to the Grain Industry Symposium in Ottawa last month, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz said he hasn&#8217;t seen any evidence that the railways aren&#8217;t performing. Apparently the grain companies reporting a weekly shortfall of between 1,000 to 2,000 cars isn&#8217;t evidence.</p>
<p>However, &#8220;I&#8217;ve asked (the grain companies) to keep me up to speed on what&#8217;s working, what&#8217;s not working, so I can flow it through to Transport Canada and directly to the railways to make sure they understand that we are watching.&#8221;</p>
<p>The reference to flowing through Transport Canada directly to the railways is particularly telling. Mr. Ritz may not be aware that in certain quarters, the joke is that Transport Canada is otherwise known as the railways&#8217; unofficial lobbying office in Ottawa.</p>
<p>The minister is also a fan of removing the revenue cap on grain shipments, which would be the railways&#8217; final victory in a long-running campaign to get absolutely everything their way. Perhaps it&#8217;s ancient history now, but some of us remember when the railways hinted if not outright promised that if the government got rid of the Crow rate, they might be able to afford to improve service. The railways also said they could improve efficiency by getting rid of all those old wooden elevators and all those branch lines.</p>
<p>So let&#8217;s go back to 1983-84, when there were 3,000 elevators, not 300, and most of the cars were boxes, not hoppers. In the final week of that year, Thunder Bay took off 9,672 cars, and Vancouver unloaded 3,000-plus. Back then, 5,000 unloads would have been a disaster. Today it&#8217;s considered a good week.</p>
<p>So the railways got what they wanted. The Crow is gone. The boxcars are gone. The branch lines are gone. The wooden elevators are gone. The wheat board is gone. But the railways are shipping half as many cars as they did 30 years ago. Their solution to improve things &#8212; and one apparently shared by Minister Ritz &#8212; is to get rid of the revenue cap so they can charge even more.</p>
<p>Did we mention that the revenue cap is set at a level to guarantee a profit, and is adjusted for inflation?</p>
<p>The theory behind this, by the way, is that by allowing the railways to charge more in total, they could raise rates at some points to encourage more efficiency in the system. When there are four elevators in Western Canada &#8212; one per railway at the foothills of the Rockies and at the Manitoba-Ontario border &#8212; perhaps the system will be sufficiently efficient from the railways&#8217; point of view.</p>
<p>The wholesale deregulation of the system over the past 30 years was marked by a number of reports, many prepared with helpful support from the railways&#8217; lobby office in Ottawa&#8230; er, Transport Canada. One of the last, by retired Supreme Court Justice Willard Estey, supported continued deregulation. However it&#8217;s somehow been forgotten that he also made another recommendation to encourage competition, which was that the rail system be deregulated in the same way as telecommunications, and that there be joint running rights. In other words, anyone could start a railway and run it on CN and CP tracks.</p>
<p>Well, that didn&#8217;t happen, but the current government ad campaign tells us that it wants at least four cell phone companies competing in every region of the country &#8212; and sharing cell towers.</p>
<p>In kowtowing to the railways, the Harper government is only carrying a tradition followed by previous Liberal and Progressive Conservative governments. But never have we seen such a stark ideological contrast. You must have the choice of four cell companies, but two railways are enough.</p>
<p><strong>&#8212; John Morriss</strong><em> is associate publisher and editorial director for Farm Business Communications. This editorial appears in the Dec. 5, 2013 edition of the </em>Manitoba Co-operator<em> (page 4).</em></p>
<p><strong>Related stories:</strong><br /><a href="http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/2013/11/27/kap-president-tells-ag-minister-rail-service-unacceptable/">KAP president tells ag minister rail service unacceptable,</a> <em>Nov. 27, 2013</em><br /><a href="http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/2013/11/20/ritz-rates-current-rail-service-for-grain-adequate/">Ritz rates current rail service for grain &#8216;adequate,&#8217;</a> <em>Nov. 20, 2013</em><br /><a href="http://www.grainews.ca/news/record-crop-meets-plugged-system/1002686742/">Record crop meets plugged system,</a> <em>Oct. 29, 2013</em><br /><a href="http://www.grainews.ca/news/rail-service-legislation-passes-unopposed/1002364009/">Rail service legislation passes unopposed,</a> <em>May 31, 2013</em></p>
<p><em><br /></em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/morriss-cell-companies-bad-railways-good/">Morriss: Cell companies bad, railways good?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
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		<title>Grainews founder John Clark dies in Winnipeg</title>

		<link>
		https://www.grainews.ca/columns/wheat-chaff/grainews-founder-john-clark-dies-in-winnipeg/		 </link>
		<pubDate>Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:30:38 +0000</pubDate>
				<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Morriss]]></dc:creator>
						<category><![CDATA[Wheat & Chaff]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.grainews.ca/?p=44262</guid>
				<description><![CDATA[<p>ohn Clark, the founder and first editor of Grainews, passed away Jan. 18 in Winnipeg at age 81. Born in Regina, John spent much of his early life in Kamsack, where his father Stan worked for Canada Malting. John went into plant science at the University of Saskatchewan where he received a master&#8217;s degree with</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/columns/wheat-chaff/grainews-founder-john-clark-dies-in-winnipeg/">Grainews founder John Clark dies in Winnipeg</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
]]></description>
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>ohn Clark, the founder and first editor of Grainews, passed away Jan. 18 in Winnipeg at age 81.</p>
<p>Born in Regina, John spent much of his early life in Kamsack, where his father Stan worked for Canada Malting. John went into plant science at the University of Saskatchewan where he received a master&#8217;s degree with the intention of being a barley breeder. Learning that was probably a surprise to anyone who met John later in his career, as I did when he hired me as a field editor in the spring of 1976. Plant breeders require the ultimate in patience as they wait years for their work to become a commercial reality, and meticulous organizational habits.</p>
<p>Neither were John&#8217;s strong suits. He had an idea a minute, and once they came to him he wanted them acted on as soon as possible. As for organization, the office manager lived in fear of the regular visit by the fire inspector, who took a dim view of the many stacks of paper in John&#8217;s office, always in close proximity to at least one burning cigarette.</p>
<p>That was at United Grain Growers in Winnipeg, where John headed the information division. Grainews started life as a free publication for UGG members, and part of the content was by and about UGG staff and directors, promoting its commercial and policy objectives.</p>
<p>However, John took it well beyond that. He saw a gap in the farm publication marketplace for the &#8220;how to&#8221; in grain production and marketing. He also realized that farmers would like to read articles and opinion pieces written by other farmers, and always wanted every article to contain information that would allow the reader to make an extra buck. For the first managing editor, John didn&#8217;t hire a writer, but Lin Boyes, an ag rep from Saskatchewan.</p>
<p>John combined those attributes of the publication with an insistence for good &#8212; although not necessarily polished &#8212; writing. Anyone who wrote for Grainews got the lecture on &#8220;Write like you speak, with short sentences and no big words.&#8221; If the columns didn&#8217;t come in that way, the writers may not have recognized them after John went to work with a ruthless &#8220;blue pencil.&#8221;</p>
<p>He combined his eye for good writing with a desire to find writers who didn&#8217;t mind shaking things up a bit, such as Alf Bryan, who passed away recently, and Lyle Walker. John spotted Lyle through his letters to the Western Producer, and called him up to ask if he&#8217;d write for Grainews. In addition to his still-requested pieces on old machinery, Lyle would either entertain, infuriate or both with his ruminations on metric, the wheat board, governments in general or whatever was on his mind at the time.</p>
<p>Like the grain business itself, Grainews was a wild and wooly place in those early days, and not only for readers. Production day tended to turn into production day(s) and nights. More than once when an edition was almost ready, John would come in and start ripping pages apart to make them look better. This was in pre-computer days, when everything had to be typeset all over again.</p>
<p>At some point UGG decided it would no longer foot the entire bill for Grainews and that readers would have to subscribe, which they did by the thousand, a testament to John&#8217;s winning formula. Grainews also started to accept advertising, partly because UGG was happy for the revenue but partly because the publication was so popular that advertisers wanted to be in it.</p>
<p>After 38 years, Grainews is still going strong, largely because it&#8217;s still following the principles John Clark set out. We&#8217;ll miss him. </p>
<p>Our condolences to his wife Colette, his children Stan, Lori, Wendy and Fred, and his 13 grandchildren. A memorial service is planned for a later date.   &#8224;</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/columns/wheat-chaff/grainews-founder-john-clark-dies-in-winnipeg/">Grainews founder John Clark dies in Winnipeg</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
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		<title>Editors&#8217; Picks: Bleak message to Texas cattle producers</title>

		<link>
		https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-bleak-message-to-texas-cattle-producers/		 </link>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Morriss, GFM Network News]]></dc:creator>
						<category><![CDATA[Livestock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weather]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-bleak-message-to-texas-cattle-producers/</guid>
				<description><![CDATA[<p>Just get out. That&#8217;s the bleak message from a Texas A+M University forage specialist to cattle producers who have gone through the driest 12 months in the state&#8217;s history. With little to no grazing and hay, should livestock producers continue to try to buy feed, move cattle to another state or just sell out? &#8220;It</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-bleak-message-to-texas-cattle-producers/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Bleak message to Texas cattle producers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
]]></description>
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>Just get out. That&#8217;s the bleak message from a Texas A+M University forage specialist to cattle producers who have gone through the driest 12 months in the state&#8217;s history.</p>
<p>With little to no grazing and hay, should livestock producers continue to try to buy feed, move cattle to another state or just sell out?</p>
<p>&#8220;It would be much less expensive to just get out and come back later,&#8221; Texas AgriLife Extension Service state forage specialist Larry Redmon said in a release. &#8220;And that&#8217;s the message that we&#8217;re trying to convey.&#8221;</p>
<p>Many livestock producers have already tried to cut feeding costs by extensively culling their herds, but have held onto enough cows to rebuild their herds if the drought passes. In some dry years, that might be a good strategy, but not this one, Redmon said.</p>
<p>With grazing and hay supplies next to non-existent in many areas of the state, it&#8217;s getting very expensive to buy feed.</p>
<p>On average, it&#8217;s costing producers &#8220;somewhere around $100 a month to have these animals (cows) stay in the pasture and feed them,&#8221; he said (all figures US$).</p>
<p>Another choice is to move cattle elsewhere, most likely another state during this drought, and lease land where there is grazing, Redmon said. That could cost $20-$22 per cow-calf pair plus hauling costs, which would be cheaper than buying local feed.</p>
<p>But completely selling out makes more sense yet, Redmon said, given there&#8217;s no guarantee this drought will end anytime soon.</p>
<p>&#8220;Some people would counter and say it&#8217;ll cost more to come back into the business later because conditions will have improved, and more people will be getting back in,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s true. But again, looking at the difference in what it would cost to buy cows and come back in at some later date &mdash; versus what they would spend trying to go through this drought &mdash; mathematically, it&#8217;s just a no-brainer.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>&#8212; The &#8220;Editors&#8217; Picks&#8221; feature highlights eyebrow-raising and unusual-yet-true news from the world of farming, as gleaned from various sources by the editorial staff of the Farm Business Communications division.</em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-bleak-message-to-texas-cattle-producers/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Bleak message to Texas cattle producers</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
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		<title>Editors&#8217; Picks: Mo. soybean grower tops 160 bu./ac.</title>

		<link>
		https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-mo-soybean-grower-tops-160-bu-ac/		 </link>
		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Oct 2010 04:01:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Morriss, GFM Network News]]></dc:creator>
						<category><![CDATA[Crops]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-mo-soybean-grower-tops-160-bu-ac/</guid>
				<description><![CDATA[<p>A southwestern Missouri farmer is the first to have officially cracked the 160 bushels per acre mark for soybean yield. Kip Cullers, who farms at Purdy, about 80 km southeast of Joplin, was confirmed &#8212; again &#8212; as the world record holder on Oct. 12 by the Missouri Soybean Association (MSA), after the weigh check</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-mo-soybean-grower-tops-160-bu-ac/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Mo. soybean grower tops 160 bu./ac.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
]]></description>
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><p>A southwestern Missouri farmer is the first to have officially cracked the 160 bushels per acre mark for soybean yield.</p>
<p>Kip Cullers, who farms at Purdy, about 80 km southeast of Joplin, was confirmed &#8212; again &#8212; as the world record holder on Oct. 12 by the Missouri Soybean Association (MSA), after the weigh check from his Sept. 28 harvest was witnessed and verified by a third-party, MSA-approved official.</p>
<p>&#8220;Reaching this unprecedented level shows the yield capacity soybeans can obtain and the potential for higher-yielding soybeans,&#8221; Dale Ludwig, CEO for the Jefferson City-based MSA, said in a recent release.</p>
<p>&#8220;Kip&#8217;s new record shows we have yet to maximize the yield potential of soybeans and is a great example of how intensive crop management can push soybeans to higher yields.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Weather conditions also are a significant factor, and we experienced times when conditions were not all that favourable this season,&#8221; Cullers said in the same release. &#8220;However, with irrigation and managing for stresses along the way, yields came through.&#8221;</p>
<p>Cullers planted the record-setting crop April 14, putting in Pioneer variety 94Y71 on an irrigated and conventionally tilled field, where he used Headline fungicide and Asana XL and Steward EC insecticides, following label instructions in all cases, the MSA said. Seed treatments included Optimize 400 and Bio-Forge.</p>
<p>Cullers first grabbed the world record soybean yield in 2006, with 139 bu./ac., followed by 154.57 in 2007. A typical Missouri soybean acre yields about 40 bushels, the MSA noted.</p>
<p>Breaking the 100-bushel mark has become more achievable with new technologies and characteristics developed in recent years to protect soybeans against stresses during the growing season and allow for full yield potential, the MSA said, also citing Cullers&#8217; &#8220;attention to detail and proactive management style.&#8221;</p>
<p>Cullers, the MSA said, &#8220;scouts his fields closely and on a daily basis to check for production challenges, such as disease and insects.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve learned over the course of more than two decades of farming, that setting the stage for higher yield potential all starts with good genetics,&#8221; Cullers said. &#8220;From there, it&#8217;s hitting the right planting date, crop management throughout the growing season and a willingness to try new things.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>&#8212; The &#8220;Editors&#8217; Picks&#8221; feature highlights eyebrow-raising and unusual-yet-true news from the world of farming, as gleaned from various sources by the editorial staff of the Farm Business Communications division.</em></p></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-mo-soybean-grower-tops-160-bu-ac/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Mo. soybean grower tops 160 bu./ac.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
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				<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">118918</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Editors&#8217; Picks: Viterra not seeking AWB, yet</title>

		<link>
		https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-viterra-not-seeking-awb-yet-2/		 </link>
		<pubDate>Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:37:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Morriss, GFM Network News]]></dc:creator>
						<category><![CDATA[Crops]]></category>

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				<description><![CDATA[<p>Speculation in Australia&#8217;s business media that Canada&#8217;s largest grain company may make a play for the former Australian Wheat Board is so far just speculation, according to Viterra&#8217;s CEO. AWB Ltd. agreed late last month to an A$855 million (C$799 million) all-stock takeover bid by its larger Australian rival, GrainCorp. The companies&#8217; wedding is seen</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-viterra-not-seeking-awb-yet-2/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Viterra not seeking AWB, yet</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
]]></description>
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Speculation in Australia&#8217;s business media that Canada&#8217;s largest grain company may make a play for the former Australian Wheat Board is so far just speculation, according to Viterra&#8217;s CEO.</p>
<p>AWB Ltd. agreed late last month to an A$855 million (C$799 million) all-stock takeover bid by its larger Australian rival, GrainCorp.</p>
<p>The companies&#8217; wedding is seen as a way to fend off domination of Australia&#8217;s grain trade by multinationals such as Switzerland&#8217;s Glencore, U.S. firms Cargill and Bunge, and/or France&#8217;s Louis Dreyfus.</p>
<p>But market observers, citing rising international grain prices, see what the <em>Herald Sun</em>&nbsp;daily newspaper last week called an &#8220;increasing likelihood&#8221; that multinationals such as Glencore or Regina-based Viterra could step forward as suitors for AWB or even GrainCorp.</p>
<p>But Viterra, which entered the Australian grain business last year with a C$1.4 billion takeover of ABB Grain, remains an &#8220;interested observer&#8221; of the GrainCorp/AWB courtship, according to the <em>Australian Financial Review.</em></p>
<p>The <em>AFR</em>&nbsp;last week quoted Viterra CEO Mayo Schmidt as saying his company&#8217;s focus has been &#8220;entirely&#8221; on integration with ABB.</p>
<p>&#8220;We keep an eye on the market. We are certainly watching with interest, but in terms of what happens in our competitive environment that we operate in,&#8221; the journal quoted Schmidt as saying.</p>
<p>But the <em>AFR</em> also said Schmidt wouldn&#8217;t rule out a counter-bid for Melbourne-based AWB.</p>
<p>The journal cited investment industry observers as saying AWB&#8217;s Landmark rural services business, which includes merchandise, fertilizers, farm services, wool, livestock, finance, insurance and real estate, would be a &#8220;natural fit&#8221; for Viterra to consider.</p>
<p>The <em>Herald Sun</em> quoted Schmidt as saying further consolidation, such as a GrainCorp/AWB marriage, would be good for the grain industry in that country.</p>
<p>&#8220;We think any consolidation in our sector in Australia or other markets brings more discipline and allows it to be more competitive and for companies like ours to reinvest in the industry,&#8221; Schmidt was quoted as saying.</p>
<p>Observers have noted AWB has struggled to hang onto market share in Australia&#8217;s grain handling sector since it lost its wheat export monopoly powers in 2008, following a scandal over kickback payments to secure sales to Iraq.</p>
<p><em>&#8212; The &#8220;Editors&#8217; Picks&#8221; feature highlights eyebrow-raising and unusual-yet-true news from the world of farming, as gleaned from various sources by the editorial staff of the Farm Business Communications division.</em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-viterra-not-seeking-awb-yet-2/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Viterra not seeking AWB, yet</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
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				<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">87954</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Editors&#8217; Picks: Triffids return to British TV</title>

		<link>
		https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-triffids-return-to-british-tv-2/		 </link>
		<pubDate>Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:49:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Morriss, GFM Network News]]></dc:creator>
						<category><![CDATA[Crops]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-triffids-return-to-british-tv-2/</guid>
				<description><![CDATA[<p>As Canadian government and industry officials attempt to get the genetically modified flax variety Triffid out of the system so shipments can resume to Europe, British TV viewers are being reminded of the sci-fi creature of the same name. This week the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) concluded airing a new two-part made-for-TV adaptation of the</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-triffids-return-to-british-tv-2/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Triffids return to British TV</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
]]></description>
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><p>As Canadian government and industry officials attempt to get the genetically modified flax variety Triffid out of the system so shipments can resume to Europe, British TV viewers are being reminded of the sci-fi creature of the same name.</p>
<p>This week the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) concluded airing a new two-part made-for-TV adaptation of the 1951 novel <em>The Day of the Triffids</em> by British author John Wyndham.</p>
<p>The novel was previously adapted for a 1962 film starring Howard Keel and Janette Scott, and a 1981 BBC TV mini-series, as well as several BBC radio dramatizations.</p>
<p>The fictional Triffids are described as plants capable of aggressive and seemingly intelligent behaviour: they are able to move about on their three &#8220;legs,&#8221; appear to communicate with each other and possess a deadly whip-like poisonous sting that enables them to blind and kill humans and feed on the rotting carcasses of their victims.</p>
<p>Wyndham&#8217;s book implies they were bioengineered in the Soviet Union and then accidentally released into the wild when a plane carrying their seeds is shot down. Triffids begin sprouting all over the world, and their extracts prove to be superior to existing vegetable oils. The result is worldwide cultivation of Triffids.</p>
<p>In the new TV version, which BBC commissioned in 2008 for broadcast this year, the Triffids are cultivated as a source of alternative fuel called Triffoil. When a solar storm leaves most of the world&#8217;s population blinded, millions of the man-eating plants begin to roam Britain.</p>
<p>Cast members in the new BBC version include Dougray Scott <em>(Mission: Impossible II, Desperate Housewives),</em> Joely Richardson <em>(101 Dalmatians),</em> Eddie Izzard <em>(Ocean&#8217;s 12, The Riches)</em> and Vancouver-born Jason Priestley<em> (Beverly Hills 90210).</em></p>
<p>&#8220;This story is so enduring &#8212; you can apply it to any era,&#8221; Priestley was quoted as saying in an interview on the BBC&#8217;s website.</p>
<p>&#8220;The political landscape of 1951 may no longer be relevant, but the abiding themes of the book still have great resonance. This story says that, if it is left unregulated, greed will bring us all down. As we were making this series, the world was disintegrating as the global economy collapsed. How&#8217;s that for topical?&#8221;</p>
<p>The real-life genetically-modified flax variety CDC Triffid was withdrawn from commercial distribution in Canada in 2001, but shipments of Canadian flax to Europe have been stalled since September 2009, when traces were found in some cargoes.</p>
<p><em>&#8212; The &#8220;Editors&#8217; Picks&#8221; feature will highlight eyebrow-raising and unusual-yet-true news from the world of farming, as gleaned from various sources by the editorial staff of the Farm Business Communications division.</em></p></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-triffids-return-to-british-tv-2/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Triffids return to British TV</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
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		<title>Editors&#8217; Picks: Aircraft firm packs heat on crop duster</title>

		<link>
		https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-aircraft-firm-packs-heat-on-crop-duster-2/		 </link>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:41:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Morriss, GFM Network News]]></dc:creator>
						<category><![CDATA[Crops]]></category>

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				<description><![CDATA[<p>A U.S. maker of agricultural and firefighting aircraft has tricked out one of its crop-duster models for low-level warfare. Air Tractor, based at Olney, Tex., about 180 km northwest of Fort Worth, brought its AT-802U &#8220;Air Truck&#8221; to this year&#8217;s International Paris Air Show, where according to an article Tuesday by Associated Press reporter Slobodan</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-aircraft-firm-packs-heat-on-crop-duster-2/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Aircraft firm packs heat on crop duster</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
]]></description>
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A U.S. maker of agricultural and firefighting aircraft has tricked out one of its crop-duster models for low-level warfare.
</p>
<p>Air Tractor, based at Olney, Tex., about 180 km northwest of Fort Worth, brought its AT-802U &#8220;Air Truck&#8221; to this year&#8217;s International Paris Air Show, where according to an article Tuesday by Associated Press reporter Slobodan Lekic, the plane&#8217;s wings were fitted not with pesticide-spraying nozzles but with 225-kg bombs, triple-barrel heavy machine guns and multiple-rocket launchers.
</p>
<p>The unit&#8217;s 3,000-litre spray tank has become an auxiliary fuel tank, giving the AT-802U sufficient range to cross the Atlantic Ocean, Lekic wrote.
</p>
<p>The idea to fit out such a plane as a &#8220;light counter-insurgency aircraft&#8221; came from a request Air Tractor got from the U.S. government in 2002.
</p>
<p>&#8220;They needed planes with armored engines and cockpits, and with self-sealing fuel tanks for spraying operations in Latin America,&#8221; Air Tractor design engineer Lee Jackson told AP&#8217;s Lekic.
</p>
<p>Operations spraying illegal drug plantations in jungle areas of countries such as Peru or Colombia often involve planes dodging small-arms ground fire, Lekic wrote.
</p>
<p>However, he wrote, a dedicated turboprop-driven counter-insurgency aircraft such as the Embraer Tucano or the Beechcraft T-6, priced at about US$10 million each, has become too dear for smaller countries&#8217; air forces. AP quoted Jackson as saying he expected the armed version of the company&#8217;s AT-802 crop-duster to come in below half that price.
</p>
<p>Jackson, whose company also displayed its firefighting planes at the Paris exhibition, running June 15-21 at Le Bourget, was also quoted as saying potential customers are particularly interested in the combat-ready AT-802U&#8217;s ability to &#8220;loiter for up to 10 hours&#8221; above a potential target area.
</p>
<p>Air Tractor&#8217;s non-combat AT-802 models are billed by the company as &#8220;the world&#8217;s largest single-engine aircraft,&#8221; sporting a payload of 9,500 lbs. The company said the 802&#8217;s popularity &#8220;reflects the industry&#8217;s trend to larger, high-production turbine equipment.&#8221;
</p>
<p>The 802&#8217;s two &#8220;official&#8221; models are the AT-802, with a two-seat cockpit, and the AT-802A, with a single-seat cockpit. &#8220;Either of these aircraft can be used for agricultural work or for firefighting,&#8221; the company said on its website.
</p>
<p>The AT-802F, a dedicated wildfire-fighting model, is billed as an &#8220;initial attack air tanker&#8221; and &#8220;a fast, maneuverable aircraft that&#8217;s both operationally effective and economical.&#8221; It uses an &#8220;advanced, patented computer-controlled firegate to deliver optimum coverage levels with extreme accuracy.&#8221;</p>
<p><i>&#8212; The &#8220;Editors&#8217; Picks&#8221; feature will highlight eyebrow-raising and unusual-yet-true news from the world of farming, as gleaned from various sources by the editorial staff of the Farm Business Communications division.</i></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-aircraft-firm-packs-heat-on-crop-duster-2/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Aircraft firm packs heat on crop duster</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
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		<title>Editors&#8217; Picks: Agricultural analysis goes animated</title>

		<link>
		https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-agricultural-analysis-goes-animated/		 </link>
		<pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:55:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<dc:creator><![CDATA[John Morriss, GFM Network News]]></dc:creator>
						<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-agricultural-analysis-goes-animated/</guid>
				<description><![CDATA[<p>A four-minute animated adaptation of a 62-page report on food security from Japan&#8217;s agriculture ministry has become a &#8220;minor YouTube hit,&#8221; according to the U.S. magazine BusinessWeek. Japan&#8217;s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) recently commissioned Tokyo design studio Groovisions, which has previously developed visuals for MTV in Japan, to develop a MAFF report,</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-agricultural-analysis-goes-animated/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Agricultural analysis goes animated</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
]]></description>
								<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A four-minute animated adaptation of a 62-page report on food security from Japan&#8217;s agriculture ministry has become a &#8220;minor YouTube hit,&#8221; according to the U.S. magazine <em>BusinessWeek.</em></p>
<p>Japan&#8217;s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) recently commissioned Tokyo design studio Groovisions, which has previously developed visuals for MTV in Japan, to develop a MAFF report, <em>Ensuring the Future of Food,</em> as an animated short, the magazine explained.</p>
<p>Groovisions&#8217; resulting short film, posted on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok3ykR2GHCc" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">YouTube</a>, has so far generated a total of over 100,000 views on the video-sharing site, between its various subtitled versions.</p>
<p>In the film, people and livestock move and dance in time to a light techno soundtrack, while a voice-over explains the circumstances under which Japan&#8217;s food supply base has become &#8220;quite vulnerable.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Currently, Japan only produces about 40 per cent of the food it consumes,&#8221; MAFF wrote in an introduction to the campaign on its website. &#8220;This is the lowest among all major developed nations.&#8221;</p>
<p>An early example of the shifting food supply chain is tempura soba, a Japanese dish for which 80 per cent of the ingredients are now imported, the film explains.</p>
<p>Focused on a couple at home at the kitchen table, the film explains, &#8220;In the past, they ate more rice, fish and vegetables, so their diet was nutritionally well balanced. But nowadays they consume more meat, fat and oil.&#8221;</p>
<p>And as the animated couple&#8217;s waistlines expand, the voice-over explains that the shift in eating habits means more imports of soy and cereal grains, and that &#8220;such a change in the diet has disrupted the nutritional balance, giving way to a wide spectrum of health problems.&#8221;</p>
<p>The decrease in demand for domestic production leads directly to a decline in agricultural productivity, the video explains, showing young people walking away from the land and a few older farmers remaining to wave goodbye (all in time to the music).</p>
<p><em>BusinessWeek</em> characterized MAFF&#8217;s animated short as an eye-catching alternative to &#8220;toiling on a report nobody will read.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Our goal was to raise awareness about Japan&#8217;s low food self-sufficiency ratio here and overseas,&#8221; the magazine quoted MAFF spokesperson Takaya Komine as saying. &#8220;The results have exceeded our expectations.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>&#8212; The &#8220;Editors&#8217; Picks&#8221; feature will highlight unusual-yet-true news from the world of farming, as gleaned from various sources by the editorial staff of the Farm Business Communications division.</em></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.grainews.ca/daily/editors-picks-agricultural-analysis-goes-animated/">Editors&#8217; Picks: Agricultural analysis goes animated</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.grainews.ca">Grainews</a>.</p>
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