Hursh Comment

After three years of disappointment, hog prices are back into profitable territory. Unfortunately, the hog industry in Saskatchewan has been reduced to a shadow of its former self. Brad Marceniuk, a livestock economist with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture puts out a regular hog market update. Index 100 market hogs in Saskatchewan are currently selling …

Namaka Enterprises, a large feedlot operation from southern Alberta has reportedly announced its intentions to set up a Saskatchewan operation southeast of Outlook in the southern end of the South Saskatchewan Irrigation District. Ultimately, the plan is for a 36,000 head feedlot which would make it the largest in the province. Local sources say Namaka …

Here are some more interesting tidbits on Pursuit herbicide. The product is widely used on lentils, but not registered. Industry sources say data was generated for a minor use registration, but BASF, the manufacturer would not support the minor use registration. The company claims there’s too much risk of crop injury and weed control isn’t …

Some farmers are importing Pursuit herbicide from the United States and saving a pile of money. That’s good news for the producers involved, but there are unfortunate consequences. The price tag on a 3.3 litre container in Western Canada is nearly $1,100. The comparable price in the U.S. is about half that amount. Under a …

The last few weeks have seen two massive precipitation events. For the time being, drought fears have been largely eliminated on the western Prairies. In some eastern regions of Saskatchewan, excess moisture is now a problem. The prospects for pasture and hay are looking good. In addition to the moisture, there has been a limited …

The Liberal Party is putting some emphasis on policies for rural Canada. Earlier this week, leader Michael Ignatieff made a commitment to what he calls “Canada’s first National Food Policy.” While it’s heartening to see some attention being paid to agriculture, it’s obvious that the Liberals are going after seats in rural Ontario. They have …

Canola seeding recommendations have changed over the years. Conventional wisdom was that you wanted to seed a little later in the spring so that emerging canola would be more likely to escape frost damage. In the 90s, conventional wisdom was challenged. It was found that canola could harden off and withstand a significant frost. In …

There’s more and more market information available to grain, oilseed and specialty crop producers, but more information is not necessarily more knowledge. In the latest Pulse Market Report from Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, there’s detailed information on the lentil, pea and chickpea crops in Turkey and Australia. This is great market intelligence, but it’s tough for …

According to the Statistics Canada seeding intentions report released yesterday, there are some dramatically different seeding intentions between the three Prairie Provinces. On lentils, the increase in Saskatchewan is pegged at 16 per cent which would increase lentil acres to 2.7 million. This is far below trade estimates. The increase in Alberta is 200 per …

A couple weeks ago, many areas of the province were anticipating an early start to seeding. In fact, there could have been a lot more seeding done but producers held off because it was so early. Since then, we’ve had a major rainfall event and now we’re into damp, cool weather. There was snow over …

The seeding intentions report from Statistics Canada comes out on Monday and everyone expects durum acreage to drop dramatically. In fact, the Canadian Wheat Board is expecting a drop of close to 25 per cent. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s even greater than that. But don’t expect American farmers to follow suit. The CWB …

Odds are you don’t know much about Ochratoxin A, but this mycotoxin has big implications for Canadian cereal grains. Ochratoxin A, also called OTA, is produced by a fungus during grain storage. It has long affected many commodities, but more countries are now establishing maximum levels for OTA in grains and in food products. Health …