Inbreeding was once perceived as a significant threat to long-term stability of Canada’s dairy industry, and the dairy genetics sector worked to successfully tackle the challenge in the first decade of the 2000s. The advent of genomics over the next decade shifted the sector’s focus but at Lactanet Canada’s most recent Open Industry Session shows […] Read more
Lactanet looking at new inbreeding tool
Company developing list of “diversity sires” for Compass management software
Climate-focused group preps for new policy framework
Farmers for Climate Solutions releases new report ahead of agriculture ministers meeting
With federal, provincial and territorial ministers set to gather this month for the final time before the expiration of the current Agricultural Policy Framework (APF), a national coalition of farm organizations hopes its newly published climate ‘task force report’ will win the attention of policymakers. “We’re not sure if we’ll be allowed to attend (the […] Read more
Mid-year farm-gate milk price increase set
The need to soften inflation’s impact on the farm outweighs other public image factors, says FCC
Anyone expressing surprise or dismay at the recently announced plan to increase the farm-gate milk price in Canada on Sept. 1 is ignoring financial realities, says the chief economist at agricultural lender Farm Credit Canada (FCC). “I definitely saw it coming,” J.P. Gervais told Farmtario in a recent interview, referring to a June 21 Canadian […] Read more
OMAFRA discontinues annual nitrogen survey
The survey may be replaced with a better program to advise farmers on nitrogen applications to corn
An annual soil nitrogen test survey led by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) has been discontinued for 2022, with the ministry’s corn industry program lead Ben Rosser hoping to work with partners to come up with what he describes as a more effective and easily-administered replacement. The Pre Sidedress Nitrogen […] Read more
Bringing dairy data together in new ways
Researchers hope to establish Canada-wide network to collect and store records
Milk quality and heat detection are the top-of-mind benefits for dairy producers from the data that’s available when upgrading milking equipment to include sensors. But dairy geneticists can also benefit from on-farm sensor data to develop new tools for producers that can fine-tune breeding programs and make milk production more sustainable. Why it matters: The […] Read more
National group launches standardized corn borer scouting protocol
Goal is to address lack of knowledge about ECB in non-corn hosts
A nationwide entomologist working group is promoting a new online scouting tool for farmers, crop advisors and researchers with the aim to broaden knowledge about European corn borer (ECB) damage in new and emerging crops like quinoa and hemp, “The recent confirmation of ECB resistance to Cry1F Bt corn in Nova Scotia has increased the […] Read more
Ukrainian farmers persevere for 2022 planting
Black Sea shipping closure represents biggest among many challenges, say Canadian companies who work there
Ukraine has shifted from input-dependent crops like corn towards the country’s more traditional sunflowers and small grains, as farmers there have persevered through an unimaginably difficult 2022 planting season to complete a significant portion of planned acreage. That’s according to two Ontario seed-sector leaders whose companies have for several years done considerable business in Ukraine. […] Read more
New large-scale distillery an opportunity for grain growers
Crown Royal parent company announces plans for distillery near Sarnia
More than 60 years after the most recent large-scale construction of an alcoholic beverage distillery in Canada, Britain-based Diageo is set to break ground this summer near Sarnia on a facility to dramatically boost production of its flagship Crown Royal Canadian whisky. It will, according to Spirits Canada CEO Jan Westcott, “be a very sizeable […] Read more
U of G team trying to develop biodegradable agriculture plastics
Small-scale on-farm trials with silage covers and mulch show potential
Research at the University of Guelph aims to perfect a biodegradable film that could eliminate the need to find a recycling market or contribute to landfill waste for plastic bunk silo covers and horticultural mulch. The work is being led by associate professor of engineering Dr. Erica Pensini with collaboration from Prof. Alejandro Marangoni in […] Read more
Recycling struggles to keep pace with increased plastic use for forages
Pilot recycling program and newly-available materials with post-consumer plastics could help reduce environmental footprint
Technologies for wrapping, covering and storing corn silage and other forage crops continue to evolve, but efforts to limit the long-term effects of those technologies on the environment haven’t kept pace. But that hasn’t stopped environmentally conscious stakeholders in the sector from trying to do their part. Globally, an Israel-based leader in agriculture plastics is […] Read more
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