Analyzing the feed grain market is no easy task, nor is controlling it. However, the experts do have insights for 2019, and farmers may like what they have to say.

In June of 2018, Vietnam’s Protection Department (PPD) notified the Canadian government that consignments of Canadian wheat and peas were found to be in non-compliance with the country’s phytosanitary requirements.

In 1993, The Alix Malthouse commenced operation as WestCan Malting, notably producing malt for Anheuser-Busch.

With certain pockets of Western Canada being dealt losing hands at harvest year after year, grain drying is moving from a “nice to have” to a “need to have.”

“… because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; this is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns; the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”—Donald Rumsfeld, former United States secretary of defence.

Darcy Goossen has been farming full-time for more than two decades, but he’s been an inventor his whole life. The Ferintosh farmer can’t even count the number of “handy dandy farm tools” he’s made, but now there is one that certainly stands alone in his mind. Goossen’s Tiregrabber took home the prestigious honour of Best Invention at Canada’s Farm Progress Show (FPS) in Regina, SK, this past year. He edged out Robert Pytlyk, creator of a predator-proof chicken run.

According to five agriculture professionals, pursuing a career in seed may be a rewarding path for recent high school graduates as well as those further along in their studies or now employed in other sectors.

According to farm financial experts, the escalation of land value is shifting the farm-financial paradigm and may change the firmly rooted impulse to build farm operations primarily upon owned acres.

While discussions about value creation in the form of alternative variety research funding models have been ongoing for a decade in Canada, wheat and barley acres continue to decline. For many in the industry, this trend gives the issue increasing urgency. Though there may be widespread agreement that a problem exists, opinions are mixed as to the best solution.

For 40 years or more, Alberta has sought to unleash its agri-food sector. We have amazing people, great companies, decent infrastructure, significant markets and an extraordinarily enviable land base.