Farms.com Home  › News

Wheat variety returns rate grows by 65% in recent study

Farmers are seeing some of their investments pay off big time as a new study is suggesting they're getting a huge return on what they're paying for wheat varieties.

As part of their grain levy, farmers pay into funds that go towards public research of wheat varieties which attempt to increase yield along with pest and disease resistance.

In the last study of data that concerns how much farmers are getting back from the program in 2012, it was determined that there was a return of $20 for every $1 sent to the levy.

Jake Leguee, the vice-chair of the board of directors for Sask Wheat, one of the organizations that helped with the study, said their recent analysis shows farmers are doing even better.

"They were actually able to determine that the return investment was even better this time. It's actually a  33 to 1 rate of return. Another way to think about that might be if you took a dollar and put it into a savings account, you'd be getting a 33% rate of return on that investment. If that's what I could get in my savings account I'd be putting every dollar I could into it." 

Click here to see more...

Trending Video

Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.