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Drought Expanding South Of The Border

Crops in the U.S. are looking OK for now, however drought continues to expand.

Ben Buckner is a grains analyst with AgResource Company.

"Moisture demand is not very high and soil moisture, up until maybe the middle part of May, was OK. It's changing very quickly. We're hearing of some water use rates of half to 6/10ths of an inch per day, which you can't even offset with irrigation. Drought continues to expand, will expand further assuming two week forecasts verify. The real message is that moisture accumulation so far, since about late winter, has been on pace with 2012, which if you remember was a devastating drought in the U.S. I don't think widespread catastrophe is the most probable scenario, but crops will be going backwards over the next 2 weeks and the big question is whether July weather improves."

The USDA released its June WASDE report Thursday. Buckner says the report came across mostly as expected.

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Ask A Farmer: How are broiler chickens raised in Canada?

Video: Ask A Farmer: How are broiler chickens raised in Canada?

As more and more Canadians become removed from farms and ranches, many people have questions about how animals are being raised on Canadian farms. Tiffany Martinka is active on social media and has made a point of sharing how their family farm takes care of their chickens. In this podcast, Tiffany explains the audited programs that all Canadian farmers must follow and describes how this system of raising chickens is unique in a global setting.

The main points of this podcast include:

What it is like on a broiler chicken farm and the process that chicken farmers go through.

The different programs that farmers must follow, and be audited on, to be licensed to sell broiler chicken in Canada.

The full circle of practices on Tiffany’s family farm, including growing their own feed for chickens, then recycling the manure back onto the fields to grow future crops.