The Editor's Desk

Seed Right

March 2024—A drill is for seeding. So, do one-pass air drills that apply both seed and all fertilizer do a disservice to canola stand establishment? That question came up during a Canola Council of Canada (CCC) agronomy team discussion on yield-limiting factors and what we can do about them. Summer heat, flea beetles and low plant...
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The Editor's Desk

Positive vibes

January 2024—German farmers cannot grow genetically-modified crops. They lost access to neonicotinoid seed treatments, and now nitrogen rates are restricted. European leaders have environmental and political reasons for all three decisions, but they come at a cost. One cost is yield. When agriculture strives for more efficient and sustainable use of arable land, agriculture can meet...
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The Editor's Desk

Right for You

November 2023—Farm profitability differences in Canfax’s Cow-Calf Cost of Production Network are stunning. Based on 2022 preliminary results, profits for the top third of the network’s benchmark farms averaged $487 per cow. Profits for the bottom two thirds averaged $29 per cow. “Those are the averages. A lot of farms in the bottom two thirds are...
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The Editor's Desk

Good Work

September 2023—Ted Bilyea says the “worst case scenario” to manage emissions would be government restrictions that reduce agriculture productivity in Canada. Global demand for vegetable oil, for example, is not going down, so if Canada produces less “this would shift production to more damaging parts of the world,” says the chair of the Canadian Agri-food Policy...
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The Editor's Desk

Saving forests

March 2023—“Innovation is the reason one quarter of all forests exist.” Jack Bobo made this statement during a presentation at the Grow Canada conference at the end of November. “There are 3.6 billion hectares of forest left on the planet,” he says. “If we farmed today the way we did in the 1960s, we would need...
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