Plant hardiness zones updated

 

Canada is warmer by one to three degrees than in the mid-1800s, so the federal government has updated plant hardiness zone maps.

They are designed for gardeners, not farmers, the creators caution, yet the report said “these changes have significant implications for plant growth and survival across the country.”

Federal employees who are part of the Canadian Forest Service have created a website called www.planthardiness.gc.ca.

It contains updated maps with new plant hardiness zones for Canada’s different regions.

Farmers’ mood continues decline

For the third straight month, a survey of farmers indicates they are more pessimistic about the farm economy.

The Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer Index fell 10 points to 125. 

Farmers were “markedly less optimism about the future” with the index of future expectations declining by 16 points to 123, which is the lowest since last September.

Crop specialists were pessimistic, but livestock farmers, led by beef producers riding a wave of high prices and record-setting profits, were optimistic.

The Short-Term Farmland Value Expectations Index reading of 112 dropped three points from July, continuing a three-month trend. 

But any reading higher than 100 indicates that more farmers still expect rising values in the coming year than those who consider declining values as more likely. 

Three-quarters of crop producers expect farmland cash rental rates in to remain unchanged next year; only 12 per cent felt rents will go lower.