AGCanada

Prairie malting barley growers can expect to see an extra $51.90 per tonne in the next few weeks for their 2011-12 deliveries. The barley adjustment payment, expected to flow by direct deposit on Feb. 21 and by cheques in the mail starting Feb. 24, is on the list of increased initial payments effective next Thursday (Feb. 9), announced Friday by the Canadian Wheat Board. Certain grades and classes of milling wheat will earn adjustment payments ranging from $5.05 to $27.90 per…[Read more]

Agricultural societies in Alberta will get extra funding this year toward farming-related leadership development activities for youth in the province. "Currently, the average age of Alberta's producers is 51; we need to change that," Agriculture Minister Evan Berger said in a release Friday. Berger pledged $2 million this year for ag societies, with a portion of the funding earmarked to "help support local programs that encourage our youth to become involved…[Read more]

Members of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association have approved a plan to double the provincial checkoff levy on cattle sales to $2 a head. The decision came in the form of a resolution passed at the SCA's recent annual meeting in Saskatoon, noting lobbying expenses and international marketing expenses "continue to increase" while the provincial checkoff hasn't risen since it was doubled to $1 in 1987. When the checkoff is formally raised, Saskatchewan will be…[Read more]

Canada's dairy farmers plan to draft and test-pilot an animal care assessment model that would help ensure treatment of animals on farms within an accepted code of practice. Dairy Farmers of Canada said Wednesday it will conduct a pilot program using a draft animal care assessment model (ACAM) being developed through the National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC). In the first phase of this pilot program, DFC will focus on "the program content -- determining what to…[Read more]

Citing "lower near-term demand," fertilizer giant Mosaic Co. has announced plans to cut back the output from its potash mines in Saskatchewan for the next four months. Mosaic, which in late December said it would also reduce its finished phosphate production until the end of March, said Friday it will reduce its planned potash production by "up to 20 per cent" from now through May. While the "curtailment" will see less potash coming out of…[Read more]

The grain and oilseed stocks in all positions report released Friday by Statistics Canada held few surprises over, with the exception of the estimate for peas. However, there were a few questions raised by the industry regarding the accuracy of the numbers released by the government agency. The numbers confirmed that usage of the various crops has been aggressive, with the record domestic demand and the record export pace of canola fully recognized, said Ken Ball, a broker with…[Read more]

Chemical and bioscience giant DuPont will spend $10 billion and release thousands of new products over the next nine years aimed at improving food production and nutrition, company officials said Thursday. DuPont said it was setting three primary goals for "stimulating and guiding" internal efforts around its commitments to helping address global concerns about food security in light of a rapidly growing world population. The move is one of many being made by…[Read more]

Their system of revenue under renewed jabs from various angles, Canada's dairy farmers have compiled their retorts into a new online campaign. Dairy Farmers of Canada on Wednesday launched a website dubbed YourMilk.ca, which organizes the case for the country's dairy industry into three sections: one on the industry's benefits to the public, producers and processors, another on "busting myths" and a…[Read more]

The highway southwest of Addis Ababa to Wolayto-Soddo is wide and smooth, but there is no such thing in Ethiopia as setting the cruise control and just cruising, as one would expect to do on the wide open Canadian Prairies. With nearly 80 million people, Ethiopia is densely populated and most of its people live  as subsistence farmers in rural areas. We share this highway with other users, including a steady stream of pedestrians and livestock -- cattle, goats, sheep and the poor-man's…[Read more]

Live cattle and feeder cattle rallied to a new historical high last week. In reaching $150, feeder cattle prices achieved a technical measurement derived…[Read more]