A breeding program with public, private and producer stakeholders has yielded its first commercial wheat variety. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canterra Seeds and the Alberta Wheat Commission pooled their resources and expertise to develop and commercialize new Canadian Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) wheat varieties for the Prairies, says Brent Derkatch, Canterra’s director of operations and […] Read more
New breeding program, new spring wheat
A new CPSR, AAC Crossfield, comes out of a new partnership in wheat breeding
Nutrien Ag Solutions offers new digital platform
Customers can access agronomy, business information and past purchases online
A major ag input dealers aims to go beyond selling fertilizer and seed by providing easy access to business and agronomic information for its customers through a digital platform. “We think this is where the world is going and we want to offer that service to our customers,” says Mike Frank, president of Nutrien Ag […] Read more
Reporter’s Notebook: Leaving a legacy in Manitoba
From Freemasons to farm families. There have been several legacies built in Manitoba
Recently I was in Winnipeg for the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation annual conference. Winnipeg is probably not on too many bucket lists, but the downtown core has some interesting old buildings and attractions around the Forks. One of the most interesting buildings is the Manitoba legislature. Years ago, Frank Albo was driving by the leg […] Read more
Merging into Corteva
Dow and Dupont products will be sold by Corteva, but branded as Brevant
Farmers looking for their usual Dow and DuPont products will have to get used to some new brands as company officials prepare for more change. Corteva Agriscience formed when Dow and DuPont merged last year. Currently Corteva is the ag division of the newly merged company, but DowDuPont plans to launch Corteva as a separate, […] Read more
New crop scouting tool for your pocket
A new app from Bayer’s digital farming company, Xarvio, puts the smart in smartphone
Wondering which disease is damaging your crop or which weed is growing in your field? There’s an app for that. “Xarvio is a digital farming company with the ambition to deliver a healthy field,” said Warren Bills, business development manager. Xarvio was launched and owned by Bayer. BASF recently acquired the company as one of […] Read more
Reporter’s Notebook: Fear and anger on the internet
Social media is great for sharing information, but there is a downside
In my last column, I wrote about how rapid change in how we communicate is changing society and encouraging fear. Fear easily morphs into anger and hatred and there’s no shortage of either on the internet. I’d love to write that the online ag community is free from such nastiness. But the ag community is […] Read more
Rules ease up for growing hemp
Legal changes aren’t just for users; growers will also see fewer restrictions
The Cannabis Act is slated to take effect October 17th, legalizing recreational cannabis use in Canada. Those legislative changes will also remove many roadblocks to growing hemp and open up new market opportunities, say those in the industry. The new Act removes hemp from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, says Keith Jones, vice president […] Read more
Corn, corn, and more corn
There’s a lot of it, but there’s also a plan behind Nebraska crop rotations
If you drive through Nebraska in the summer, expect to see a lot of corn. It towers on both sides of grid roads and secondary highways, hiding deer just as well as forests do in northern Canada. Sometimes drought-tolerant crops such as sorghum fill corners and line borders, as a pollination buffer for seed corn. […] Read more
Moving grain south of the border
The Ceres Northgate Terminal works with BNSF to move grain into the U.S.
If you had a good arm, you might be able to stand outside the Ceres Northgate Terminal and wing a baseball from Saskatchewan into North Dakota. While the terminal and most of Ceres’ twin-loop track is in Canada, part of the track is south of the border. The facility’s border-straddling location, southeast of Estevan, is […] Read more
Long rotations: midsummer management
In the second of a three-part series, Lisa Guenther talks to farmers about their rotations
This harvest, farmers in southwestern Manitoba and southeastern Alberta are dealing with dry weather, while producers in northwestern Saskatchewan have excess moisture. This summer Grainews has been talking to three farmers from three provinces about how they manage their rotations. The idea is to see how producers manage longer rotations and what are the benefits and challenges. […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
