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Interest in farming is a great communications opportunity

The world’s food needs are under the microscope and we hear near-daily pleas from groups such as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization for greater investment in feeding hungry people. So why are development agencies such as USC Canada dedicating scarce resources to hackneyed anti-corporate promotions such as this latest poll?



That’s what I’m pondering in this week’s… Continue

Added by Owen Roberts on October 23, 2009 at 10:51am — 1 Comment

I guess nightshade doesn't get frost bite

The sight of nightshade's purplish/black berries in a "food grade" soybean crop is every producer's worst nightmare. They stain the seed and dramatically reduce the value of the crop. In theory, you would kill uncontrolled nightshade prior to harvest with either a herbicide (i.e. Reglone, glyphosate) or mother nature (i.e. a frost), the berries would drop to the ground, never go through the combine and the seed would be left unstained. Unfortunately this is a theory, and reality shows us… Continue

Added by Mike Cowbrough on October 20, 2009 at 7:09am — 3 Comments

Canadian Farm Land Values Increased 2.9% during first half of 2009.

Farm Credit Canada’s semi-annual land value survey for the period Jan. 1 to June 30, 2009,

By Farms.com Editors

The average value of Canadian farmland increased 2.9 per cent during the first six months of 2009, following increases of 5.6 and 5.8 per cent in the previous two reporting periods.

Farmland values increased in most provinces. New Brunswick experienced the highest increase at 5.6 per cent, followed by Manitoba, with an increase of 5.5 per cent.

Two provinces… Continue

Added by Frank Borszcz on October 20, 2009 at 5:09am — No Comments

Finding Efficiency Through Trade Policy Change

“Give me a level playing field and we can compete with the world’s best”



I heard this quote last September 22nd at a meeting for hog farmers set up by Ontario Pork. It was one statement that I classed as optimism in a room that was overwhelmingly negative. I can completely understand why negativity abounded at this meeting, every farmer in that room faces a very uncertain future but I want to focus on the positive.

While our farm at home is one of the many hog farms that faces… Continue

Added by Stewart Skinner on October 7, 2009 at 3:05am — 1 Comment

Shaun Haney: How Ontario and the West are Different.

I have posted this commentary by our friend Shaun Haney of Alberta, he dropped in to the Farms.com office for a visit a couple of weeks ago on his trip to Ontario.







How Ontario and the West are Different.

By Shaun Haney, Realagriculture.com



I recently traveled to Ontario to attend some meetings that pertained to my seed business. I had a great time and was hosted by some great companies and people. The real treat was getting to spend some time with local… Continue

Added by Joe Dales on October 4, 2009 at 8:38am — 2 Comments

Field Bindweed Control in the Fall

Field bindweed is an aggressive perennial weed that reduces crop yield and slows harvesting speed especially in soybeans and cereals. Eradication is impossible, but minimizing its impact in field crops is possible with a management strategy that includes a fall application of glyphosate at 1.5 L/ac (360 g/L concentration). The photo below was taken in late May of 2004 and compares field bindweed populations in the untreated… Continue

Added by Mike Cowbrough on October 1, 2009 at 10:20am — 3 Comments

Funding initiatives

This past summer has been an interesting one along the lakeshore. Living and farming in the Ashfield Twp area is particularly interesting each summer due to the influx of tourists that bring their stress and frustrations to the lakeshore for some quality recharge time. Smooth washing waves, romantic sunsets, green fields of crops, quiet countryside and tourist events.

In order to keep them coming some people suggest we need to improve our environmental standards when it comes to water… Continue

Added by Wayne Black on September 26, 2009 at 2:00am — 1 Comment

People Watching

Over the last several years I've been fortunate to be part of the Western Fair - the big fall fair in London. Each year I'm in the barns doing some livestock show announcing and new this year kids pedal tractor pulls. In between events barn staff tend to find each other for a visit and some people watching. You really do get people from all walks of life coming to the fair in the city and the one thing I've learned from all of them, is that people really don't know anything about agriculture.… Continue

Added by Andrew Campbell on September 14, 2009 at 1:30am — 1 Comment

REACH Grand Opening Gala and Open House

This past week I was fortunate enough to participate in two events at the new Regional Equine & Agricultural Centre of Huron. The first was the "black tie" Gala for invited guests in the new Riding Arena on Thursday night. A great list of sponsors made it a fabulous entertaining night that people will be talking about for quite a while. Not very often something like this happens in Huron County. The REACH staff made sure everything was as close to perfect as possible. It was also quite… Continue

Added by Wayne Black on September 12, 2009 at 2:04pm — 2 Comments

Pass the Mayonaise originally written for the September issue of the Rural Voice Magazine

Don't read this article on local food; go to http://www.eatrealeatlocal.ca/ and watch a short video. Seriously, watch the video, download it, send the link to all your friends and contact lists. It should be required reading for every politician and bureaucrat.

Pig farmers will have to examine these latest government handouts and determine if the glass is half empty or half full. I would like to thumb my nose at all government programs. They are all made up of half measures and ad hoc vote… Continue

Added by John Beardsley on September 10, 2009 at 4:20pm — 2 Comments

It Isn't Always Our Fault

Covering agriculture has meant I've been to a pile of meetings. Meetings on getting more profit on your farm, meetings on government regulations, meetings on just about anything you can think of in order to help you be a better farmer. One of the topics that comes up a lot for livestock producers is developing a consistent product. While this usually is directed towards beef producers today, at one time it applied to everyone. Processors and retailers say if you want a better price - they need… Continue

Added by Andrew Campbell on September 7, 2009 at 12:44am — 1 Comment

Unseen Losses By Stewart Skinner

Too often we get caught up in the economic impacts that the loss of an industry can have. We never talk about the social costs of the disappearing jobs. In my own community I have witnessed the devastation to the rural social fabric that follows a major loss of jobs. Children have left rural schools as their families search for better opportunities elsewhere; heck, we haven’t had a full slate of hockey teams in Wallace Township since I was playing peewee. I look at what my own family does in… Continue

Added by OntAG Admin on September 1, 2009 at 2:30pm — 1 Comment

AgVisionTV: UnDiscussables with Elaine Froese: Death, Divorce and Disability.

Here is Elaine talking about a difficult… Continue

Added by Kevin Stewart on August 29, 2009 at 3:22am — 1 Comment

It's Official - I'm Now a Farmer.

So I think its official – I’m a real farmer. Now there was no certificate or degree from Guelph. No big ceremony or letter stating I was now accepted to the farming profession. I’ve decided I’m a real farmer because of one innocent thought. People told me I would have these thoughts, they warned me to expect them. I always shrugged those naysayers off saying I would not be like other farmers. But then it happened, just like it was suppose to. We were baling hay late yesterday afternoon. The… Continue

Added by Andrew Campbell on August 26, 2009 at 2:48am — 2 Comments

Which is Better-Livestock or Deadstock?

If you are going to have livestock, you are going to have deadstock.



I don’t know who coined that term, but every farmer knows it’s the truth. But that doesn’t mean you leave anything sick to die.



That would appear to be what some folks rather we do. As noted in an article in TIME Magazine and the New York Times, the world seems to have something against antibiotics.



I’m going to use our small dairy farm as an example. It’s been a tough couple of weeks. After… Continue

Added by Andrew Campbell on August 24, 2009 at 6:35am — No Comments

Learn How to Buy, Manage and Optimize Precision Agriculture Technology.

Wallace: The GPS Guru



My name is Jordan Wallace and I am a partner with a company called GPS Ontario. We have been in business for 8 years selling precision farming equipment to progressive farmers in eastern Canada.



I was asked to write this blog for Farms.Com to help growers learn more about the equipment, management and peripheral issues relating to GPS precision farming practices. With that said I’m hoping to settle a few myths and answer your questions, but my primary… Continue

Added by Jordan Wallace on August 22, 2009 at 4:31pm — No Comments

Agri-Traveller: Small Projects Pay Big Dividends in Rural Brazil

Bob Thomas: The Agri-Traveller A hand up……….not a hand out. On the wall of their simple church is written: “Nao podemos atraz e faxer um novo comeco Mas podemos recomecar fazer uma nova final” How true it is. “We are not able to go back to make a new beginning; but we can make a new ending.” I was meeting with the Sal e Luz (Salt & Light) youth group in the small town of Cha Grande in northeast Brazil to discuss their proposal to SHARE for funding of a screened shade house to raise peppers… Continue

Added by Bob Thomas on August 22, 2009 at 4:11pm — No Comments

New Opportunities Need to be Explored in Midst of Pork Crisis.

New Opportunities Need to be Explored in Midst of Pork Crisis



By Henry Stevens, Christian Farmers of Ontario



It’s no secret that Ontario’s pork sector is currently in a disastrous position. Unacceptably low live hog prices, coupled with high input costs and diminished export markets, have led to a situation in which producers lose money on every hog that leaves the farm. To top it off, there is considerable uncertainty about the role of the provincial marketing system in… Continue

Added by John Clement on August 22, 2009 at 1:55pm — 1 Comment

Leadership Lessons from a Retrofitted Lincoln

Leadership Lessons from a Retrofitted Lincoln



By John Clement



Neil Young has a vision that has leadership lessons for agriculture. Most know the singer-songwriter as either the crooner of acoustic ballads or the prototype of grunge rock. But the former Canadian musician is also sympathetic to the plight of family farmers and has been a strong force and founder of the U.S. Farm Aid concerts. He also fuels his tour bus with U.S.-based biofuels derived from the crops… Continue

Added by John Clement on August 22, 2009 at 1:52pm — No Comments

Emerging Opportunities for Farmers in the Bio-Economy

Emerging Opportunities for Farmers in the Bio-economy.



By Nathan Stevens

August 21, 2009



The emerging bio-economy has the potential to provide Ontario farmers with new and

innovative ways to improve the profitability of their farms. There are currently large hurdles

that are slowing down this process, from regulatory adjustments to policy challenges to

technological speed bumps to mature markets that make it profitable to produce for the… Continue

Added by Nathan Stevens on August 22, 2009 at 1:42pm — No Comments

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Agriculture Headlines from Farms.com Canada East News - click on title for full story

Alberta Announces Major Water Sharing Agreements

The Alberta government on Friday announced that municipalities, industry, and irrigation districts in the province have voluntarily agreed to reduce water usage in case of drought this spring or summer. A provincial release said 38 of the largest and oldest water licensees in southern Alberta have voluntarily agreed to the reductions. The groups represent up to 90% of the water allocated in the Bow and Oldman basins and 70% in the Red Deer River basin. The largest water-sharing agreements in the province’s 118-year history, the deals will let “more Albertans access water in a drought and reduce the negative impacts on communities, the economy and the environment,” the release said. The agreements are at the centre of Alberta’s drought response efforts. In 2001, agreements between southern irrigators and others played a key role in helping share water during that drought. This year’s agreements, facilitated by the Alberta government, are even bigger in scale and scope. There ar

Farmland Rental Rates Keeping Pace with Value Appreciation

Canadian farmland rental rates and values are climbing at generally the same rate, but renting still offers benefits – especially for new producers. A Farm Credit Canada analysis pegged the rent-to-price ratio for cultivated farmland at 2.52% in 2023, little changed from a year earlier. Notably, the three provinces that recorded the highest farmland value increases in 2023 - Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Quebec - also saw increases in rental rates, maintaining stability in rent-to-price ratios. A ratio trending lower suggests cash rental rates are appreciating at a slower pace than land values. Conversely, an increase in the ratio indicates that rental rates are increasing faster than land values. The FCC analysis provides a detailed breakdown of rent-to-price ratios by province, highlighting variations in rental rates and farmland appreciation across different regions (see table below). Notably, provinces like Ontario and select Atlantic provinces have witnessed divergent trends,

Wheat and barley producers can claim SR&ED credit on their 2023 taxes

Wheat and barley producers who pay check-off through Alberta Grains (formerly Alberta Barley and the Alberta Wheat Commission) and do not request a refund are eligible for a 34 per cent and eight per cent tax credit respectively through the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Fund (SR&ED) program for their investment in research and development (R&D) projects. For example, producers who paid $100 in check-off on their wheat in 2023 would earn $34 in tax credit, whereas producers who paid $100 in check-off on their barley in 2023 would earn $8 in tax credit. The federal SR&ED program encourages R&D investment through tax-based incentives, giving claimants tax credits for their expenditures on eligible R&D work. The tax credit percentage is based on the amount invested in R&D that meets the criteria laid out by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). “The SR&ED program is incredibly beneficial, and I would encourage all eligible growers to utilize it,” says Alberta Grains chair,

Canadian innovation taking plant-protein nutrition to new heights

Today, Protein Industries Canada held a tasting and networking event to celebrate the launch of its latest project announcement: A collaborative effort to de-risk, scale and expand Wamame Foods’ new high protein product line. Working with project partners Apex Food Source, Crush Dynamics and AGT Food and Ingredients, Wamame Foods is using Canadian ingredients to develop, commercialize and scale a new functional athlete-focused high-protein line of food products, such as high-protein burritos, that exceeds the protein-to-calorie ratio of the average American protein bar. Soon to be available in a variety of North American and overseas retail grab-and-go locations, these high-protein products will add diversity of choice for athletes and health-conscious individuals everywhere and enable consumers to enjoy their food while maintaining an elite lifestyle. “With support from Protein Industries Canada, Wamame and its project partners are helping to get premium plant-based meat alternative

Back to Basics: Improving Soil and Creating Opportunities for a Healthy Food System

Dr. Lord Abbey, Associate Professor in the Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences at Dalhousie University and Bioenterprise SIAC Advisor, speaks about soil health, compost, and creating pathways for Canadian immigrants interested in agriculture.

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