Hursh Comment

Forecasting the economy is a lot like forecasting the weather. Both are reliably unreliable. For predictions of the agricultural economy, you need to forecast both the weather and the general economy, not only at home, but also in key importing and exporting regions around the world. Needless to say, there are poor odds of getting …

Despite all the emphasis on climate change, it isn’t at all clear what it will mean for Prairie agriculture. Yes, the frost free period appears to be increasing in many parts of the Prairies, but there’s huge variability. According to Paul Bullock, a soil scientist at the University of Manitoba, the frost free period can …

It doesn’t really even have a name yet. Next Policy Framework or NPF is just a temporary moniker. The previous five-year program frameworks for agriculture were Growing Forward 1 and then Growing Forward 2. The new Liberal government has resisted the urge to refer to the next federal-provincial deal as Growing Forward 3, so at …

It might have been the end of the line for the old tractor. Instead, with advice from near and far and a single flat washer, the tractor has a shot at another seeding season. The problem was evident as soon as we hooked to the new-to-us seed drill. The drill lifted just fine, but it …

Sometimes a market goes bonkers and that’s what has happened with lentils. Whenever craziness ensues, there are inevitably negative consequences and it will be no different with this bit of insanity. Sky-high record price levels are certainly a good news story for producers lucky enough to sell into this rapidly rising market, but observers are …

You can question the pasteurization of milk, express concern over the safety of common disease vaccinations and doubt the safety of GM foods and incur fewer wraths than if you challenge the holy grail of climate change. For the record, I side with science on pasteurization, vaccination and biotechnology, but climate change science isn’t in …

After watching from the sidelines for a couple years, I’m ready (I think) to experiment with intercropping. Intercropping certainly isn’t a new idea. It probably reached its height of popularity in Western Canada with peola, a mixture of peas with canola. The peas fixed nitrogen for the canola while the canola gave the peas upright …

Crop                Yield              Price            Expense/Ac           Net/Ac HRSW                38                  5.50                      210                   (1) Durum                37         …

The sprayer booms were being folded up for the last time after another fungicide application on the chickpeas. It did not go well. The left boom tip did its normal high aerial arc, but lodged on the top of the frame before sliding into place. “Need to adjust the alignment a bit,” I thought while …

The grain transportation backlog has put Statistics Canada field crop reporting under the microscope. Why didn’t we know that a huge crop was coming last year? How were the railways supposed to gear up when initial estimates were tens of millions of tonnes below what was actually produced? Suddenly, the entire industry has a graphic …

By August, the federal government plans to pass legislation strengthening Plant Breeders’ Rights so that this nation will finally conform to the international UPOV’91 treaty. The National Farmers Union continues to raise alarm bells over the change and their fear mongering resonates with those who like to view farmers as the victims of big business. …

There are no easy answers, no quick fixes to the grain logistics backlog, but make no mistake, the primary source of the problem lies with the railways. They haven’t supplied enough cars and locomotives to match the huge crop that needs to move. Even if they allocated more resources to grain movement, some observers say …