Greg, Cheryl, and Andrew Herle show reporters some vintage farm equipment, which still comes in handy for seeding small plots.

Seed growers keep their eyes on the future

For the Herle family near Wilkie, Sask., choosing which seed to grow is the key to success

The Herle family has farmed for five generations and produced over 110 crops. Since their ancestors first tilled the Prairie soil, they’ve had a front-row seat to agriculture’s evolution. “Change is constant it seems in this industry,” said Greg Herle, commercial farmer and seed grower, speaking to ag reporters and communications people last spring at […] Read more

(Bruce Fritz photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Spitz to continue using Canadian sunflower seed

The parent company for sunflower seed processor Spitz is poised to close the plant in the brand’s home town, but says it’s still “committed” to Canadian-grown seeds. PepsiCo, the U.S. parent for Frito-Lay, the owner of Spitz International since 2008, announced Thursday it will close the company’s processing plant at Bow Island, Alta., about 60 […] Read more


six rye seeds

You can’t have one without the other

Farmers need plant breeders to keep developing new varieties and breeders need farmers to buy their seed

Have you been reading articles about UPOV ’91, Plant Breeder’s Rights or Bill C-18 over the last several months? Does all the jargon leave you confused? Angry? Ambivalent? Considering the number of my fellow farmers who tell me that they bought some new variety of seed from their neighbour, I suspect that a lot of […] Read more