Farmers Turn Attention To Cereals As Fields Dry Up

Sep 01, 2014

Wet weather over the past week had a significant impact on the harvest situation.

Ingrid Kristjanson, farm production advisor with Manitoba Agriculture, says there was a fair bit of swathing of canola that went on before the rain, but she notes that a lot of producers were holding off on the cereals.

"Because of that forecast for three or four days of rain, most folks were holding off on swathing the cereals," she said. "[They] didn't want stuff on the ground if we were going to be getting a heavy rainfall."

Kristjanson notes the recent moisture will be beneficial to help fill in the later maturing crops such as soybeans, corn, and sunflowers.

She says once conditions dry up, cereals will be the focus of most farmers, with canola not far behind.

There has been good progress on oats and most of the barely has been taken off as well.

Source: PortageOnline

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.