Each spring, Hrannar Smári Hilmarsson travels 10,000 kilometres across Iceland to seed barley research plots. As he works against unforgiving elements and sluggish soil temperatures, his quest is to deliver self-sufficiency in grain production for the island nation.
A few kilometres from the family farm where he grew up, Brad McGhee sits on an old office chair. It is next to a work bench in a shop he slowly modified to support his business as an independent mechanic. Once a cold storage shed with a dirt floor, the metal-clad building is now heated and boasts a cement floor and insulated walls. He also installed roof trusses and carried out additional engineering to qualify for commercial insurance.
I am the fifth generation of my family to operate our Wetaskiwin area farm. In keeping with tradition, I have given it my own unique spin in the form of a garlic products business.
Ag continues to digitize at a rapid pace. The ag sector is increasingly more about automation and AI and less about buttons and belts. Throughout the industry, bright minds and innovative companies take risks and push toward data-driven solutions. GrainsWest sat down with five organizations that aim to make life easier and more profitable for farmers while attempting to derisk and demystify emerging tech.
When it comes to hot Canadian commodities, flour takes the cake. Over the last several years, domestic demand for flour and baked goods has steadily grown. As factors such as immigration, higher personal incomes and the evolution of consumer tastes drive this trend, the industry hopes a healthy appetite for flour will be baked into our economy for years to come.
Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan have gone underground, and underwater, to uncover the root cause of lodging in barley. Using a new approach, the Crop Development Centre’s Aaron Beattie and the National Research Council of Canada’s Allan Feurtado employed hydroponics to identify root traits that improve lodging resistance.
Built on strong variety development, Canadian grain has a solid reputation for high quality. However, industry experts increasingly warn this has been put at risk by waning investment, a cumbersome variety registration process and plant breeders’ rights that are often criticized as weak.
Canada is a strong international competitor in durum marketing. Over the past five years, it has exported more than 23 million tonnes. The country’s approach is straightforward: Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. Market dominance is not easy to maintain given factors such as new Russian and Turkish production.
Conversation about ESG continues to increase in volume as these three letters bleed into many facets of life. An acronym for “environmental, social and governance,” the idiom was coined in a 2004 report by the United Nations titled Who Cares Wins. This slightly fluid term delineates the notion that people in any given business sector need to show their work when it comes to taking care of the planet, treating people well and operating in a sustainable, that is, socially acceptable, fashion.
We grew up on family farms in the same area; my mom and dad farming east of Three Hills and his parents running a farm and feedlot on the other side of town. We were both in our 30s and farming full time on our respective family farms when a breakdown in family relationships made it untenable for him and his wife Kendra to carry on with business as usual.
