Insights and Stories on General

Jul. 11, 2012 at 1:07 pm CDT

The worst Midwest drought in a quarter century is doing more damage to U.S. crops than widely believed, already shrinking corn yields to the lowest in nearly a decade, the government said on Wednesday. In a report that reignited a near-record rally in grain prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture […]

By Charles Abbott

Jul. 11, 2012 at 6:33 am CDT

Health Canada plans its own primary research to paint “a more complete picture” of the potential health impacts on rural Canadians from life near wind turbine farms. The federal department on Tuesday announced it will work with Statistics Canada on a new peer-reviewed study, for completion sometime in 2014, on […]

Jul. 10, 2012 at 12:38 pm CDT

Proposed changes to the federal/provincial farm income stabilization program beyond this year are expected to lead to tighter eligibility for a program payout, according to a producer group observing the planning process. In its Grass Routes newsletter last week, Alberta Beef Producers reported some suggestion among federal and provincial agriculture […]

Jul. 9, 2012 at 4:55 pm CDT

Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives has released is crop report, crop production update and crop weather report for last week. Full text is posted alongside. Highlights • The continuing warm weather is advancing crops quickly, allowing producers to make excellent progress with haying operations and permitting fungicide applications to […]

Jul. 5, 2012 at 1:53 pm CDT

Rain makes grain but it apparently doesn’t make bugs. Alberta Agriculture pest specialist Scott Meers in his latest Call of the Land  interview says abundant moisture is keeping a lid on several pest populations. Diamondback moths were a concern early in the season, but "Now we’re having trouble finding very […]