Agrium’s Crop Production Services (CPS) arm will need to sell four ag retail sites in eastern Alberta to close on its deal to buy an independent western Prairie retail chain. The federal Competition Bureau on Thursday announced an agreement with CPS dealing with the company’s planned purchase of Andrukow Group Solutions Inc. which operates 18 […] Read more
Agrium’s CPS agrees to shed four Alberta retail sites
Getting covered: Treating flax seed
Flax has a reputation for being tough to treat. The benefits can make it worth the effort
BASF’s Insure Pulse cleared registration in the spring of 2016, making it the second flax seed treatment on the Canadian market. Vitaflo, the other seed treatment option for flax, has been on the market since the ’70s, says a company representative. But what benefits can flax growers expect, and how can they ensure they get […] Read more
Bayer brings hybrid spring wheats to Saskatchewan
Bayer hopes to have its new spring wheat hybrids in farmers' fields in six to eight years
On a blustery June day, officials cut the ribbon on Bayer CropScience’s new wheat breeding centre near Pike Lake, Saskatchewan. But the wheat varieties coming out of that research station south of Saskatoon will be unlike other varieties grown in Western Canada, as the company is developing hybrid spring wheat varieties in Saskatchewan. Today’s wheat […] Read more
Agrium, PotashCorp in merger talks
Canadian fertilizer giants Agrium and PotashCorp confirmed Tuesday they’re in “preliminary discussions” toward a possible merger-of-equals. Calgary-based Agrium and Saskatoon-based PotashCorp emphasized in separate statements Tuesday that no decision has yet been made on whether to go ahead with such a merger and no agreement has yet been reached. “There can be no assurance that […] Read more
Viterra books lower first-half revenues for Glencore
“Average” crops and lower prices on the Prairies in the first half of 2016 led to results “substantially below” those in the year-earlier period for Viterra’s Canadian operations. Viterra’s owner, Swiss commodity mining/marketing firm Glencore, on Wednesday reported a nine per cent drop in revenues across its global agricultural products business, from $10.74 billion in […] Read more
Fines now an option for pig traceability enforcement
Canadian hog producers who don’t follow the federal requirements for animal identification and tracking of animal movements could now be fined for non-compliance, though it’s expected such fines would be a “last resort.” The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Wednesday announced new amendments to the Agriculture and Agri-Food Administrative Monetary Penalties Regulations, allowing CFIA-designated officials […] Read more
Saskatchewan adds new secretary for farm irrigation
A rookie MLA in the Saskatchewan Party caucus has been promoted to a legislative secretary post with responsibility for expansion of the province’s farm irrigation systems. Premier Brad Wall on Tuesday named Warren Kaeding, the MLA for Melville-Saltcoats since April, as legislative secretary to the minister of agriculture, for irrigation expansion. Kaeding was previously a […] Read more
Saskatchewan farmers prepare to reap a monster crop
Yield estimates are above the 10-year average for all crops
As farmers in north-western Saskatchewan gear up for harvest, it looks like they may have a monster crop on their hands. The latest Saskatchewan Agriculture crop report notes that estimated yields are above the 10-year average across all crops, and the northwest is no exception. “Early pea yields are exceptional,” said Ian Weber, sales manager […] Read more
Field testing underway on Canadian PED vaccine
Field testing is underway and a corporate partner on board for development of a made-in-Saskatchewan vaccine to protect pigs against porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED). The University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) said Monday its prototype vaccine, first announced last year, has moved into field testing in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Manitoba […] Read more
Flu controls lifted on Ontario duck farm’s neighbours
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has lifted a three-kilometre avian flu control zone around a duck farm in Ontario’s Niagara region, freeing up traffic on and off neighbouring farms. All but one of the commercial and non-commercial farms in the control zone were released from quarantine effective Tuesday and will no longer need licensing for […] Read more