Advertise on podcast: Between The Rows

Reporter Ed White of the Western Producer talks with Ag in Motion show director Rob O’Connor about getting back to in-person farm shows after two pandemic years; plus, Shirley Janeczko with Canada’s Farm Show talks about the excitement she’s seeing from exhibitors and farmers eager to return to the event. Soybeans in Manitoba were poised for a big boom in growth about a decade ago when acres began being planted in earnest. Jeff Loessin with Corteva AgriScience, Mel Rattai of Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers and Brian Innes of Soy Canada offer a look as to where soy on the eastern Prairies measures up today. Hosted by Ed White.

As temperatures begin to soar, hosts Kristin Hoffman, Consultant with Workplace Safety & Prevention Services (WSPS) and Gord Gilmour, of Glacier Farm media stress the importance of keeping your cool, both on the farm and on the road. On this episode, putting safety first on busy summer roadways. Sheila James, WSPS Consultant shares strategies to get you and your farm equipment road ready. In the second half of the show, working in the elements from sun-up to sun-down means extended heat exposure. Warren Clements, WSPS Occupational Hygienist shares guidance on preventing heat stress and exhaustion. 

Manitoba Co-operator reporter Geralyn Wichers cracks open a page from history and speaks with plant breeder Peggy Wagoner, Lee DeHaan of the Land Institute, and Doug Cattani at the University of Manitoba, about early and ongoing efforts of perennial grain development – tracing back to the tragic, Stalin-era Soviet Union period – and the promise of a perennial, dual-purpose grain named kernza that may be more environmentally friendly to grow than some annual grain crops. Hosted by Geralyn Wichers.

After 42 years of agricultural reporting, Allan Dawson, stalwart reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator, is retiring. Gord Gilmour sits down for a conversation with the giant of ag journalism about how Dawson got his start as a reporter, the people and personalities he’s encountered over the years, and some of the ground-breaking stories he’s covered in a career spanning five decades. Plus, reporter Geralyn Wichers talks with animal welfare consultant Stéphane Beaudoin about how interest groups and livestock producers can work together using a scientific approach that balances their concerns. Hosted by Gord Gilmour.

Seeding is weeks behind schedule in Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan and we can now expect a good chunk of that area's soaked cropland to go unplanted this spring. Bruce Burnett of Glacier MarketsFarm takes a closer look at the chances for abandoned acres in the eastern Prairies. Also: consumer demand for plant-based meats has declined. Sean Pratt of the Western Producer reviews recent studies of the market growth, or relative lack thereof, in a previously red-hot protein segment. Hosted by Robert Arnason.

At the Livestock Marketing Association of Canada convention in Lloydminster, Canadian Cattlemen editor Lisa Guenther talks to Jill Renton and Dacie Przekop, who photograph cattle for DLMS/CattleVids.ca. They tell us what it takes to quickly capture a bovine's best side -- and, equally importantly, how to avoid getting on its bad side. Also: as the racing business works its way back from the COVID-19 pandemic, the CPCA's first and only female chuckwagon driver, Amber L’Heureux, is overcoming injury to get herself -- and three teams of horses -- ready to compete. Hosted by Lisa Guenther.

With outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza now seen in commercial and backyard poultry flocks coast to coast, and migratory birds known to be carrying the virus, Dr. Tom Baker of Ontario's Feather Board Command Centre considers how we got to this point and what farmers outside the poultry sector can now do to help curb further spread. Also: many Prairie farmers have either already seeded into parched soils or are waiting on the edge of cold, soaked and/or submerged fields. Bruce Burnett of Glacier MarketsFarm considers what may happen if current weather patterns persist. Hosted by Dave Bedard.

Canadian Cattlemen editor Lisa Guenther speaks with professional auctioneers John Baier and Rob Bergevin at the Canadian Livestock Auctioneering Championship about what judges are looking for in contestants and how auctioneers develop their ‘chant’; Ed White of the Western Producer speaks with Centreport Canada president Diane Gray about the massive distribution hub situated in the geographic centre of Canada and what it means for agri-business; and, farmer columnist Toban Dyck opines on his decision-making process for a used air seeder and why buying used farm equipment is not always an easy decision. Hosted by Ed White.

The number of wood-frame grain elevators on the Prairies are slowly dwindling away. Sadly, that number was recently added to when one of the oldest elevators of its kind in Canada was reduced to ashes. In early April, the Lake of the Woods grain elevator in Elva, Man., was being dismantled as part of a reclamation project when the 125-year-old structure accidentally caught fire and burned to the ground. In this episode, Manitoba Co-operator reporter Geralyn Wichers speaks with Gordon Goldsborough, president of the Manitoba Historical Society, about the Prairie sentinel that once stood in Elva, and the thread in history these historic structures contain. Hosted by Geralyn Wichers.

The federal government wants growers to use less fertilizer to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but continuous yield growth is needed to feed an increasingly hungry population. Manish Raizada, professor of plant science at the University of Guelph, thinks nitrogen-fixing microbes have a big role to play in this arena; plus, nitrous oxide is a far more powerful greenhouse gas compared to its lesser, but more popular cousin, carbon dioxide. Richard Farrell, associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan, talks about how greenhouse gases in agriculture are measured and what can be done to rein them in. Hosted by Robert Arnason.

Bob Lowe, outgoing Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) president, shares some of the many challenges cattle producers faced during his tenure while COVID-19 cast its long shadow across the country; Piper Whelan speaks with new CCA president, Reg Schellenberg, about where the association is preparing to focus its priorities in 2022; and Fawn Jackson, CCA’s director of policy and international affairs, offers her take of the recent federal budget and what parts of the plan are designed to support the agriculture sector. Hosted by Lisa Guenther.

Each seeding season comes with a fair bit of excitement for farmers, but this year also comes with more than a fair share of uncertainty. Craig Klemmer with Farm Credit Canada discusses some of the risks facing producers and what factors could make 2022 the most expensive crop on record; Bruce Burnett of MarketsFarm offers his outlook on prairie moisture conditions, spring seeding forecasts, and the efforts of Ukrainian farmers to get a crop in the ground as war rages around them; plus, Manitoba Co-operator editor Gord Gilmour shares his thoughts on the importance of rail service to grain farmers, and Western Canada’s economy as a whole. Hosted by Gord Gilmour.