I’m using this photo of a flowering crop heavily hit with a pest to make the point to watch out for canola diseases this year — and in particular be on the ball to detect and hopefully prevent clubroot. This southern Alberta farm didn’t expect to be coping with staghead, but it suddenly appeared out […] Read more
Be on guard for clubroot in canola
Hart Attacks: If it’s in your community, be on the lookout for clubroot in your canola fields this year
Defining roles can save the farm
Deciding and confirming “who’s in charge here” can take frustration out of the family farm
Improved communications and actually defining roles and responsibilities on a family farm can not only make the day go better, but can actually save a farm business, says a long-time Alberta consultant. Confusion over who is in charge can lead to some very stressful situations, says Merle Good, a well know consulting agricultural tax specialist […] Read more
The next project after COOL
The key to farm policy change is persistence
I have to give the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) and Canada’s federal government credit for their patience and persistence. I never thought the U.S. government would ever do away with its country-of-origin labelling (COOL) law once it was enacted in 2008. And after all the trips and lobbying to the U.S. capital over the past […] Read more
Farmers weigh in on “consumer demand”
Consumers need to be educated, but also willing to pay
Responding to “consumer demands” isn’t necessarily about making some wholesale changes in farm operating practices, say Prairie farmers contacted for the February Farmer Panel. Those often heard claims that “the consumer is demanding…” everything from healthier, safer food, to reduced environmental footprint, to improved livestock and production practices need to be heard, say panel members. But sometimes […] Read more
Apples have come a long way, baby
Men cannot live by canola, wheat and barley alone. Put an apple on your plate
If you ever wonder where apples come from forget the notion they are produced in some lazy looking orchard, with grand, sprawling shady trees that have been growing for centuries under which you can spread a blanket for a picnic lunch before picking the next basket. Get ready for the Super Spindle. That was the […] Read more
Let me make you famous…for a price
Sports and advertising don’t always have things in common, except when you consider how completely out of whack — out of touch — these industries can be with real life. Take the biggest sporting event in the world (according to the Americans) — The Super Bowl (even though I didn’t see the game). But TV advertising during […] Read more
Blackmailed into promoting pulses
You really have to know someone to get a recipe in Grainews, so I decided this blog was a good place to post a recipe and also promote the International Year of Pulses too. The recipe below is called Wheatberry and Lentil Salad. It was one that was featured during presentations at the recent Farm […] Read more
What’s with “consumer demand?”
Both retailers and farm groups are using farm practices as a marketing pitch
I have to admit I am more than a little sceptical of the term “consumer demand.” If I believed every TV commercial, news report, magazine article and corporate pitch talking about consumer demand I doubt I’d be able to leave the house without running into an angry mob rallied in front of some office or […] Read more
Herbicide tolerant canola, but not GMO
An SU-tolerant canola is just the first of what Cibus hopes will be a long list of trait improvements
Jim Radtke may not be a gene whisperer, but his California-based plant genetics company, Cibus, has developed technology that allows it to communicate with and influence plant genes to produce desired traits. Whether it be something like herbicide resistance, or drought tolerance in field crops, or producing a different-colored petal in a flower, as examples, […] Read more
Crop diversification opportunities
If you get rich on either of these ideas, Lee Hart wants either fruit or a piece of pie
With an ongoing commitment to bring farmers new cropping ideas, I have two. The first one I consider a sleeper crop… literally. The second falls into the category of “who knew?” If you are interested in a high value, slow return crop I recommend avocados. It is truly a sleeper, or plant-and-go-fishing, or plant and […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
