Industry – Grainews

Agco-Deere patent dispute ends

By Scott Garvey March 9, 2025

In January a U.S. federal appeals court dismissed an appeal by John Deere of a patent infringement case against Agco. In July 2022 a Delaware jury concluded Precision Planting’s SpeedTube-vSet2 product, a high-speed planting system, did not infringe on Deere’s intellectual property. Precision Planting is an Agco brand. Agco said in a statement it’s “pleased […] Read more

Equipment, Machinery

Local sales in ag equipment buck national market trends

Evidence at Crop Production Show suggests demand beyond the data

By Connor Bohachewski March 2, 2025

Even on a largely underperforming harvest outcome, optimism was still present in the majority of the crowd at this year’s Crop Production Show in Saskatoon. It seemed fitting to have the two largest pieces of equipment at the show a couple of booths down from each other. Capacity, horsepower and efficiency have been the focal […] Read more

Viterra’s Coulter Avenue elevator in Winnipeg on Jan. 22.

Columns, Editor's column

Editor’s Rant: Canadian graffiti

The government's conditions for a Bunge/Viterra marriage left much to be desired

By Dave Bedard February 11, 2025

I’ve got to admit, I’ve never fully understood the geometry behind federal regulators’ decisions on which assets a company has to sell in exchange for clearance on a big merger or takeover. There may well have been a solid reason why, after Husky sold off its retail gas stations in 2022, our neighbourhood wound up […] Read more

Chocolate chip cookie dough made with chickpea flour. Pulse starches are being explored for use in batters, breading, pastas and various snack foods.

Crops, Pulses

Starch market search yields results for pulses

Food scientists look to improve pulse crops’ value proposition beyond their proteins

By Janelle Rudolph February 9, 2025

Glacier FarmMedia — Protein is normally the focus of pulse production, but research shows value can also be gained from the starch byproduct. Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan are seeking new uses for pulse starches in the food and biomaterial sectors. Byproduct market research aims to reduce food waste, increase efficiency and add more […] Read more

Crops

Bayer betting on Prairie camelina

Saskatoon-based Smart Earth has been working to optimize the oilseed

By Dave Bedard February 9, 2025

A Saskatoon company’s camelina catalogue is expected to go to develop new farmed fuels under Bayer’s guidance. Bayer announced in January it has closed a deal to buy the camelina germplasm and intellectual property assets of Smart Earth Camelina Corp. There’s been a fair amount of ink over the past 20-odd years about camelina and […] Read more

Columns, Editor's column

Editor’s Rant: Lights out

Thoughts on green policy-making ahead of Justin Trudeau's departure

By Dave Bedard January 30, 2025

Up on the shelf where we keep light bulbs of assorted sizes and wattages, I just happened across an old compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) — remember, those bulbs that looked like an Arby’s curly fry wrapped in thin white glass? Talk about a relic from a bygone time in western civilization when, it seemed, the […] Read more

Columns

Selenium sits on thinnest line between health and hazard

Agronomy Management: Removing selenium from water is costly and difficult at best

By Ross H. McKenzie January 22, 2025

There are increasing concerns about the potential effects of a proposed coal mine development in southern Alberta and the impacts selenium could have on the environment in southern Alberta and into Saskatchewan. The proposed Grassy Mountain Coal project would be an open-pit mine built on a former coal-mining area about seven km north of Blairmore […] Read more

A majority of ag-based companies in a recent survey reported experiencing at least one attempt at a ransomware attack.

Equipment, Machinery

How to prepare for and deal with a loss of farm data

Gathering the farm team together can help develop a backup plan

By Scott Garvey January 22, 2025

Many of today’s farming operations rely on data more than most other small businesses. But what happens if a farm’s data is suddenly lost or compromised? How would that affect operations? Losing field data maps and other files, not to mention business and employee records, could become a big problem. In today’s global environment there […] Read more

Equipment, Machinery, Trucks and UTVs

Kenworth to limit availability of manual transmissions

Emissions limits require the brand to impose auto transmissions on most buyers

By Scott Garvey January 17, 2025

Back in the day, truck drivers were often referred to as gear jammers, because they would have to manually shift their way through 10, 13, 15 or more gears. That moniker seems to have faded into history, and one reason may account for that more than any other: industry figures estimate 90 to 95 per […] Read more

Viterra’s elevator north of Forrest in western Manitoba. PHOTO: ALEXIS STOCKFORD

News

Stakeholders react to Bunge-Viterra merger approval

By Zak McLachlan January 15, 2025

Following the federal approval of Bunge’s acquisition of Viterra on Tuesday, Jan. 14, stakeholders made their voices heard in a wave of reactions to the controversial merger.

Alberta Crop Report: Higher-than-average yields expected

U.S. livestock: Tight cattle supply helps CME futures rebound from collapse

U.S. grains: Soy futures post weekly loss on expectations for big U.S. crop

GFM Network News