At the 2012 Manitoba Agronomists Conference in Winnipeg on Dece-mber 12, Pam de Rocquigny, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives’ provincial cereal crop specialist, spoke about U.S. wheat varieties. While Manitoba farmers have always watched what’s going on south of the border, the removal of single-desk selling has increased interest in U.S. wheat varieties . […] Read more
Planting U.S. wheat varieties
Changing crop rotations
With more and more farmers using shorter rotations, the December Manitoba Agronomists conference was titled, “Are crop rotations obsolete?”
Even with good commodity prices, farmers need high profits to meet the rising costs of machinery, land and other inputs. In some cases, agronomists are concerned that the need for cash in the short run might be straining long-term rotations. Crop insurance data Doug Wilcox, research manager, Manitoba Agriculture Services Corporation (MASC), has looked deep […] Read moreEditor’s column
In January I spent four days in London, Ontario at Syngenta’s Grower University Business Foundations Program. Every year for the past 10 years Syngenta has sent 40 farmers from across the country to the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. The goal of the course is to teach farmers about management and profitability […] Read more
Five reasons to grow flax
Venkata Vakulabharanam, Saskatchewan Agric-ulture’s oilseed specialist, is optimistc about flax. At the Saskatchewan Flax Development Commission’s “Flax Day 2013,” Vakulabharanam gave farmers five reasons grow flax. 1. Per acre profit. According to Vakulabharanam, flax provides “equal or better profitability” when compared with other crops. 2. Better yields next year. Research has shown that canola yields better when grown […] Read more
Editor’s Column
After zipping up my warmest coat for the third day in a row, I started daydreaming about a vacation. But how much would it cost? Farm business getaways Like (almost) any farmer would, I started wondering if we could write off at least some of the costs of a trip to a sunny place this […] Read more
Editor’s column
I was concerned when my husband brought home a snowmobile for our six-year-old. Then I found out the neighbours are teaching their second-grader to weld. The snowmobile Obviously, nobody asked me first. It showed up in the back of the truck one day when my husband came home from town. I protested, but it was […] Read more
3D printers: the future of machinery parts and design
Tired of running to town for parts? Have a great idea for an upgrade on your combine, but don’t have the time or connections to get a prototype part made as a demo for manufacturers? Solutions for these problems are on the way. For some time now, new, 3D printers have been available to designers […] Read more
Take another look at straight-combining canola
Saskatchewan researchers examine straight-combining canola and make some recommendations to reduce losses for those willing to try it
At a summer research field day in Swift Current last July, quite a few farmers raised their hands when researcher Chris Holzapfel asked how many had experience with straight-combining canola. Holzapfel looked a little surprised, until he remembered that many farmers in southwest Saskatchewan are new to canola and probably don’t have a swather handy. […] Read moreEditor’s column
My mother gave me a new cookbook for Christmas this year. It’s called “Good Cookin’ with the L.A.W.” No, we haven’t been reduced to selling cookbooks to fund policing in rural Saskatchewan (yet). L.A.W. is short for “Lacadena Area Women (and Friends).” Since Lacadena, the west-central Saskatchewan community where I grew up, has a population […] Read more
Editor’s column
Things are sort of slow on our farm this time of year. We’ve all settled into the fall kindergarten routine. My husband has started up his seed cleaning plant for another winter of business. I’m catching up on some bookkeeping. There’s some farm shows and meetings to get to, but not this week. And it’s […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
