LIVE BLOG: Alberta FarmTech 2016

LIVE BLOG: Alberta FarmTech 2016

Event begins Tuesday, Jan. 26 and runs to Thursday, Jan. 28

Edmonton’s EXPO Centre at Northlands is the place to be for producers and the public during Alberta FarmTech 2016, running from Jan. 26 to Jan. 28. Want up-to-the-minute information on what’s going on at FarmTech? Check out our live blog page here! FarmTech features more than 50 sessions and a world class lineup of speakers providing […] Read more

(PortMetroVancouver.com)

Canada to sign TPP, but undecided on ratification

Ottawa | Reuters –– Canada’s new Liberal government will take the “technical step” of signing a 12-nation trade deal next week but has not yet decided whether to formally ratify the agreement, Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday. Canada is one of 12 nations that initialed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in early October after years […] Read more


(PortMetroVancouver.com)

New Zealand to host TPP signing Feb. 4

New Zealand plans to host the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact by its 12 member nations on Feb. 4. The country’s trade minister, Todd McClay, confirmed in a statement Thursday that New Zealand has issued invitations to TPP ministers to sign the agreement in Auckland, marking the end of negotiations. Signing the deal […] Read more

cattle herd

The environmental hoofprint of Canada’s beef industry

Research on the Record with Reynold Bergen

Our industry is maligned for producing greenhouse gas. Practically every living organism produces greenhouse gas, even plants, but cattle produce more than other livestock because rumen bacteria produce methane as they digest feed. Additional greenhouse gas comes from manure (methane and nitrous oxide) and fossil fuel use (carbon dioxide). However, like the industry’s “water footprint,” […] Read more


Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies for the week centred on Jan. 6. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

FAO seeks help for drought-ravaged Ethiopia

Rome | Reuters — Ethiopia faces its worst drought in decades, leading the United Nations’ food agency to call on Friday for an emergency cash injection of US$50 million to help the country overcome the crisis. Crop production has fallen up to 90 per cent in some regions and failed completely in the country’s east, […] Read more



Pacific Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies for the week centred on Jan. 6. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

U.S. forecaster sees El Nino conditions weakening

Reuters — The El Nino phenomenon currently affecting weather is expected to weaken during the Northern Hemisphere spring and transition to normal conditions by late spring or early summer, a U.S. government weather forecaster said Thursday. The Climate Prediction Center (CPC), an agency of the National Weather Service, was in line in its monthly forecast […] Read more

(CIA.gov)

Switzerland asks voters not to ban farm derivatives trade

Zurich | Reuters –– Switzerland’s government on Tuesday urged voters to reject a campaign to ban trading in agricultural derivatives, saying the well-meaning attempt to alleviate world hunger would not succeed and only jeopardize Swiss jobs and tax revenue. The “No Speculation with Food” initiative is subject of a binding referendum on Feb. 28 under […] Read more


(MasseyFerguson.us)

Saudi dairy firm buying California land for fodder

Reuters –– Saudi Arabia’s Almarai, the largest dairy company in the Gulf, has spent C$45 million to buy land in California to supply its business with alfalfa hay, it said Sunday. The 1,790 acres of land at Blythe — in the state’s southeast corner, about 200 km east of Palm Springs — was acquired through […] Read more

(AerWay.com)

Salford buys tillage equipment maker AerWay

Southwestern Ontario vertical tillage and pasture equipment maker AerWay has become part of another well-known Ontario ag equipment manufacturer. Salford Group announced in December it has bought the AerWay advanced aeration products line from the Canadian trailer systems arm of German truck, bus and trailer axle and suspension manufacturer SAF-Holland. AerWay, which operates a manufacturing […] Read more