Stewart Skinner's Blog – July 2013 Archive (2)

Competition Bureau looking at Canada’s food supply chain

The Competition Bureau plans to look at Canada’s food supply chain through three lenses.

Ag in the House: June 8 – 12

A Bloc MP had questions related to Bill C-30 and crop protection

U.S. Spring Wheat Condition Rises; Winter Wheat Harvest Accelerates

The condition of the 2026 U.S. spring wheat crop improved over the past week, while the winter wheat harvest advanced rapidly and crop ratings remained far below last year. Monday’s USDA crop progress report rated 55% of the national spring wheat crop in good to excellent condition as of Sunday, up 3 percentage points from the previous week but 2 points below the 57% rated good to excellent a year ago. In North Dakota, the largest spring wheat-producing state, the crop remained at 61% good to excellent. Minnesota improved 4 points to a strong 90%, while South Dakota slipped 2 points to 50%. Montana recorded the largest improvement, with its spring wheat rating climbing 9 points to 19% good to excellent. However, 70% of the state’s crop was still rated only fair and another 11% was poor. Spring wheat emergence reached 95%, up from 87% the previous week and ahead of both 88% last year and the five-year average of 89%. Six per cent of the crop was headed, compared with 4% last yea

Alberta Crops Catch Up After Widespread Rains, But Seeding Delays Persist in Northern Regions

Provincial seeding reaches 97%, soil moisture improves across Alberta, and crop emergence continues despite cooler conditions Frequent, soaking rains across Alberta over the past week have delivered a welcome boost to soil moisture reserves and crop emergence, although the moisture has also slowed the final push to complete seeding in some northern areas. According to Alberta Agriculture and Irrigation’s latest Crop Report, provincial seeding progress for major crops has reached 97%, putting growers within striking distance of the five-year average of 100%. The South and Central regions have completed seeding, while producers in the North East, North West and Peace regions continue working around wet field conditions. Moisture Improves Across Most of Alberta The widespread rainfall has significantly improved soil moisture conditions across much of the province. Surface soil moisture ratings are now well above normal in many areas, helping support crop emergence and early-season dev

EMILI explores how AI-powered agtech increases sustainability, efficiency

AI is a powerful, multi-purpose technology that has the potential to hyperoptimize on-farm activities to a more precise level than ever to help farmers reduce costs, manage data, and increase productivity. Of the 30+ equipment and technologies being demonstrated and tested on EMILI’s Innovation Farms powered by AgExpert in 2026, a third involve AI.  By deploying technology in a fully-operational Manitoba farm setting, EMILI is able to validate what works and provide innovators with feedback on areas of improvement.  “Ground truthing the technology is critically important to ensure it is solving a problem for farmers and providing accurate data insights,” said Koroscil. “AI models don’t always get it right. Our team spends hours in the field counting weed populations, checking soil moisture levels, evaluating environmental conditions, and collecting agronomic measurements to provide boots-on-the-ground validation of what works and what doesn’t.” Evaluating AI-powered technology in p