farmer Archives - Grainews

Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay, seen here at Agribition, is retiring from politics. PHOTO: FILE

New initiative to promote farmer mental health launched

Collaborative solutions wanted

By Phil Franz-Warkentin March 6, 2025

The Canadian government is looking for new ways to help the mental health of farmers across the country — and has launched the Producer Mental Wellbeing Initiative (PMWI) to find "collaborative solutions that employ novel strategies" to do just that.

Farmers attend a protest during a nationwide strike against newly passed farm bills at the Singhu border near Delhi on Dec. 8, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Anushree Fadnavis)

Crops, Markets, Reuters

Farmers protest across India against Modi’s farm market reforms

By GFM Network News December 9, 2020

New Delhi/Mumbai | Reuters — Farmers’ protests against new laws liberalizing agricultural markets spread across India on Tuesday, as farm organizations called for a nationwide strike after inconclusive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. In eastern and western states, farmers blocked roads and squatted on railway tracks, delaying hordes of people getting to work, […] Read more

Crops, Features

Managing fungicide resistance

Your risk of resistance will depend on the disease you have and the fungicide you spray

By Lisa Guenther November 2, 2017

Should western Canadian farmers be concerned about fungicide resistance? And if so, how should they manage it? Fungicide resistance shares some fundamentals with herbicides, says Jared Veness, field marketing manager at Bayer Crop Science. By applying fungicide, farmers are applying selection pressure to a pest. Within that pest’s population, there are likely individuals with mutations […] Read more

This BASF-supplied photo shows a still vigorously growing pea crop (left) produced with Nodulator Duo compared to pea crop produced with a competing inoculant product.

Crops, Features, Pulses

New bacteria enhance N-fixing performance

Natural soil molecules recruited to help increase pulse crop growth and yield

By Lee Hart November 1, 2017

BASF Canada and Monsanto BioAg have both added different naturally occurring soil bacteria to pulse crop inoculants to enhance the nitrogen fixing capability and growth of pea and lentil crops. Pulsea crop growers are no doubt familiar with BASF’s Nodulator and Monsanto BioAG’s TagTeam pulse crop inoculants. They’ve been around for years. For the 2018 […] Read more

The peasants driving the horse and wagon are in the majority of farmers in Romania.

Features

Romania: One extreme to another

Marianne Stamm took an opportunity to learn about EU agriculture in Romania

By Marianne Stamm October 30, 2017

I had the opportunity to join a group of 45 European agriculture journalists on a one-week press tour of the eastern part of Romania. It was one surprise after another. What I knew of Romania consisted of stories of those who took clothing to children’s orphanages, or of the report of corruption and hardship from […] Read more

The BeanIoT thumb-sized “smart” sensors could be deployed in grain bins to measure temperature, humidity or insect movements.

Crops, Features

Putting “smart” beans to work in the bin

New technology has game-changing potential for grain storage monitoring

By Angela Lovell October 10, 2017

A new technology coming out of Cambridge, England could provide an easy, flexible and cost-effective way for farmers to monitor stored grain, livestock barns, greenhouses or chemical storage sheds. The BeanIoT system deploys thumb-sized “smart” sensors to monitor whatever the user requires. In a grain storage shed or bin that might be temperature, humidity, or […] Read more

Features

Farm it like you’re ‘just’ renting it?

Do farmers look after rented farmland differently than land they own? Should they?

By Angela Lovell September 18, 2017

We’ve all heard the term “drive it like a rental” but could that also apply to farmland? Is a farmer more likely to use conservation practices like no-till or variable rate technology, or apply more fertilizer and/or manure to improve the fertility on land he or she owns than on rented land? In April 2013, […] Read more

Crops, News, Wheat & Chaff

Keep safety top of mind when cleaning out grain bins

By Canadian Agricultural Safety Association August 30, 2017

A key reason people become entrapped in grain is that grain stored in bins is out of condition. A farmer enters the bin to break down the crusted grain and tragedy strikes, grain comes tumbling down and the person is engulfed. If grain is kept in good condition, no one has to enter the bin, […] Read more

Crops, News

Grain buyers want you thinking about residues before you harvest

It hasn’t happened yet, but exceeding pesticide residue limits on exported grain could cause a ‘big problem’

By Jennifer Blair August 25, 2017

Grain growers are again being urged to heed the labels on their pre-harvest pesticides and avoid going over maximum residue limits. “We’re selling our crops mostly into export, and our exports markets are very sensitive to residual levels of different crop protection products that we use,” said Alberta Wheat Commission chair Kevin Auch, who farms […] Read more

For all three setups, Chad Bown had the heater between the fan and the bin. This fan-heater-bin sequence is recommended for canola.

Canola, Crops

Turn up the heat on aeration fans when drying canola

Some growers grappling with a late harvest and high-moisture crops in 2016 added supplemental heaters to their aeration fans. This grower’s experience may inspire an upgrade to aeration setups for 2017

By Jay Whetter August 22, 2017

Things were a little off with Harvest 2016 and Chad Bown was desperate. The farmer from Ranfurly, Alta., was combining 14 per cent moisture canola in late November after a month or more of snow delays. Delivery locations were full, so on-farm storage was his only option. But aeration fans blowing cool air could not […] Read more

Alberta crop conditions improve: report

U.S. grains: Corn sets contract lows on expectations for big US crop

U.S. livestock: Cattle strength continues

GFM Network News