It might be difficult to consider “messy” fields as a pathway to improved crop production and profitability. But in the early going, a Prairie-wide university-developed research project suggests taking poor-producing acres out of annual crop production might be a means of improving overall efficiency, as well as the all-important bottom line. And an “informed guess” based on early research data suggests that across Western Canada, up to 12-15 per cent of farm fields perform at marginal levels — not totally below the profitability line, but not producing consistently high returns. And recent fi ..read more

Vancouver Island contains a variety of landscapes: beaches with shells and the corpses of moon jellyfish, the frigid water of the Pacific Ocean washing in and out. A rugged, snow-capped mountain range looms over the island. Redwood trees reach high into the sky, the forest floor sheltered and mossy. There are grasslands here, too, in the lee of the mountains. Within the diverse landscape, beef producers find pockets of land to raise their livestock and make their living. This includes Grant Henry, owner and operator of Henry Farms, who lives near Cowichan Bay and has found his retirement fuele ..read more

Ontario’s maple syrup industry has untapped potential and renewed hope for expansion through a recent funding program. Randal Goodfellow, Ontario Maple Syrup Producers’ Association president, said the Maple Production Improvement Initiative is the first industry-specific program with $1 million available for projects up to $20,000 with 50 per cent cost-sharing. “We had to do a very detailed strategic plan for the sector and development of the sector because our potential is so massive,” said Goodfellow. “If we could produce as much as Quebec, if we had the right people and scale – that’s a big ..read more

The humble pigtail is a common sight on most cattle operations that use rotational grazing. They’re light, easy to stomp into the ground, easy to pull out and it takes only seconds to insert the wire. They’re a key labour-saving tool for the miles of temporary fencing that farmers string and unstring every season. When it comes to winter corn grazing, a few new tricks are needed. Why it matters: Like other forms of extended grazing, corn grazing promises a better balance sheet for the farmer if done right, but temporary fencing in winter comes with headaches. In frozen ground, producers might ..read more

A producer-led investment is helping an east-central Alberta research farm realize the full potential of its localized research. The Chinook Applied Research Association (CARA) in Oyen has bought a plot combine, tractor, pickup truck, GPS unit, cargo trailer and a mower tractor with $267,000 from the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF). This funding is key to CARA’s goal of providing in-depth research for producers in the province’s Special Areas and MD of Acadia, says a CARA crop agronomist. “A lot of the equipment that we were running was getting to be out of date a ..read more

It’s still the middle of winter, but it’s never too early to think about grasshoppers. That was one message delivered at last month’s Canola Week annual meetings in Calgary, which brought together canola industry leaders from across North America. Meghan Vankosky, a field crop entomologist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada based in Saskatoon, spoke during a crop update panel. She said the number of areas in the Prairies with higher grasshopper populations has been increasing in recent years. That was especially true in 2023 in southern regions of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and to a less ext ..read more

On the second floor of the Queensbury Convention Centre at Agribition, the Grain Expo takes place every year. Around the edge of the room, booths are set up, surrounding the tables attendees sit at. Everyone sits watching the panel of producers walking onto the brightly lit stage. Steve Sanden and his son, Josh Sanden, are sitting at the end of the stage, near the stairs. They own and operate West of 3rd Ranch near Craik, Sask. They are at the Grain Expo to speak about their succession plan. Steve took over the operation from his father alongside his brother. Now, Josh Sanden is slowly startin ..read more

Farmers with years of experience growing cover crops have made the practice part of their regular cropping operations after finding ways to make it work. A panel of cover crop growers at the Southwest Ag Conference showed that cover crop practices vary greatly by farm and area. Ken Schaus, of Schaus Land and Cattle in Bruce County, says his operation started using cover crops in 2008 after the land broken from hay or pasture started to show a lot of erosion. Since then, Schaus has fine-tuned his crop system on 3,500 acres. Much of it is no-till, and land designated for corn is managed with a L ..read more

Scouting for waterhemp is difficult but critical, Manitoba Agriculture weed specialist Kim Brown told producers during her presentation at St. Jean Farm Days Jan. 10. “You’re going to hear a lot about this in the next few years because this is just going to become a bigger and bigger problem, but I really believe we can get out ahead of this and we can manage this,” she said. Why it matters: Waterhemp is a tier one weed under the Noxious Weed Act and farmers are responsible for the weed management that comes with that classification if it is found on their fields. Waterhemp is a growing concer ..read more

A big boost in four-wheel-drive tractor sales signals that the farm equipment industry is returning to normal, say salespeople and other industry experts. New 4WD unit sales in Canada grew 84.8 per cent year over year in November and 41.5 percent year to date, according to the Association of Equipment Managers. In October, it reported Canadian sales of tractors above 100 horsepower were up 37.4 per cent compared to the same month in 2022. Sales of 4WD tractors were up 141 per cent in October, also compared to the same month in 2022. However, the figures are a little de ..read more