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Saskatchewan to top up some claims for wildlife-damaged forage

Affected producers in southwestern, west-central areas eligible

Producers in southwestern and west-central Saskatchewan who lost stacked forage to wildlife feeding last winter may see a bump up in their compensation. The Saskatchewan and federal governments on Wednesday announced a “supplemental freight adjustment” to their wildlife damage compensation program, administered by Saskatchewan Crop Insurance Corp. (SCIC). SCIC, the province said, has “reassessed and […] Read more

Smoke rises from a wildfire near Wildwood, Alta., about 100 km west of Edmonton, on May 5, 2023. (Photo: Alberta Wildfire/Handout via Reuters)

Alberta ‘crossing fingers’ for rain amid wildfires

CN mainline traffic west of Edmonton suspended

Reuters — Firefighters were counting on rain and cooler weather forecast for Monday to help them quell a dramatic start to Alberta’s wildfire season. The province declared a state of emergency on Saturday in response to wildfires in northern and central regions that have displaced nearly 30,000 people and prompted energy producers to shut in […] Read more

Operators can monitor and control the autonomous machine through a mobile device.

Autonomous tillage and haying

Lemken and Krone partner on multi-functional robotic system development

Glacier FarmMedia – As more attention is turned toward autonomous field operations, even companies that haven’t been known for offering powered systems are revealing their efforts to produce self-propelled robotic equipment.  Tillage equipment producer Lemken recently announced it had partnered with forage-focused Krone (both companies are based in Germany) to create an autonomous power unit […] Read more

East Coast farmers are hoping things have improved enough on the Prairies this year to help them settle some of the accounts from the Hay West initiative.

Some bills remain unpaid as Hay West winds down

CFA initiative helped drought-stricken ranchers on the Prairies source hay from eastern Canada last year

Glacier FarmMedia – Nearly 20 million tonnes of feed made up the 2021 Hay West program. Now eastern Canadian farmers are hoping things have improved enough on the Prairies this year to help them settle accounts as the aid program’s sponsor, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, wraps up the initiative. Todd Lewis, CFA second vice-president, […] Read more

File photo of a sunrise over an Alberta barley crop. (MNphotography/iStock/Getty Images)

Alberta issues final crop report for year

Harvest over 98 per cent done by region and crop type

MarketsFarm –– For the second year in a row the Alberta harvest wrapped up well ahead of the five-year average. With a gain of three points for the week ended Tuesday, Alberta Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development (AFRED) pegged the combining of major crops at 99.2 per cent complete. That’s 22 and a half […] Read more


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Saskatchewan crops advancing quickly

MarketsFarm — Hot and humid conditions saw crops in Saskatchewan advance quickly during the week ended Monday, according to the latest provincial crop report — although the humidity has slowed haying. When humidity is high, cutting hay becomes more challenging and hay that is cut does not dry down as quickly, which can result in […] Read more

A Canada-wide map of drought conditions. Photo credit: Canadian Drought Monitor

Drought conditions remain in Alberta, Saskatchewan

MarketsFarm — After copious amounts of precipitation alleviated the most severe drought conditions in Saskatchewan and Alberta, there were still some areas dealing with extreme dryness entering July, according to the Canadian Drought Monitor. At the end of June, only 22 per cent of the Prairie region was classified in the Abnormally Dry (D0) to […] Read more

bales of alfalfa in a field

Are tighter hay supplies in Ontario’s future?

High crop prices and other factors drive growers away from forage acres

Commodity crop prices are sky high. The same can’t be said about Ontario’s hay. A generally good 2021 production season contributed to a glut of dry forage, lowering hay prices across Ontario. In the face of much higher-value commodities, acres that would normally be reserved for forage production, specifically dry hay, are being turned to […] Read more


Agco has introduced an updated line of windrowers, the WR series, under its Hesston by Massey Ferguson brand.

Agco markets new windrowers

Hesston by Massey Ferguson brand introduces the new WR series

As Agco celebrates 75 years of the Hesston brand, which under that company’s ownership is now known by the “Hesston by Massey Ferguson” moniker, it is marking the occasion with the introduction of an updated line of windrowers. Hesston has been a well-known name in the hay and forage business for a long time, and […] Read more

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Planting progress picking up in Saskatchewan

MarketsFarm — Overall spring planting across Saskatchewan reached 33 per cent complete as of Monday, according to the latest weekly crop report from Saskatchewan Agriculture. Despite the good progress over the week, that’s still 20 points behind the five-year average. When compared to the excellent progress this time last year, the gap expands to 41 […] Read more