Alan Harman

The Canadian Wheat Board has accepted 100 percent of the wheat, durum and feed barley offered under the Series B contract, thanks in part to better grain transportation. The board said last week it came close to its target of moving 50 percent of the wheat, durum and feed barley available for sale this crop […] Read more

The Alberta Chicken Producers will donate $500,000 to the University of Alberta poultry research facility over the next five years. Aaron Falkenberg, chair of the producer organization, said poultry research at the U of A is instrumental in improving production efficiency. This is the largest financial donation to the poultry program through the capital campaign […] Read more

Longhorn director Deb Lesyk, of Outlook, Sask., has been elected as a director of the Texas Longhorn Breeders Association of America. She will represent region one of the organization, which includes Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Lesyk and Dwight Overlid own and operate Double D Arena, where they have raised Texas Longhorn cattle since 1988. […] Read more

Two Saskatchewan hog enterprises closed their public share offerings Dec. 31, 1997. Manitou Hog Enterprises, located near Neilburg, Marsden and Baldwinton, and Bear Hills Pork Producers, near Biggar and Perdue, both ended the public offering of limited partnership units in their farrow-to-finish production facilities. The Manitou production facility, estimated to cost $12 million, is almost […] Read more

An Alberta mother who lost her son in an accident is campaigning for a provincial law to prevent similar tragedies. Ross Egan of Red Deer, was riding in the back of a pick-up truck that collided with another vehicle. He was ejected and died. The death of her son has prompted Dot Egan to lobby […] Read more

CANBERRA, Australia – Pork producers see the hoof-and-mouth disease outbreak in Taiwan as an opportunity to boost production and offset the effects of Canadian exports to Australia. The Australian sector has traditionally been oriented to the domestic market, but now sees the opportunity to export up to 30,000 tonnes a year. Last year exports were […] Read more

CANBERRA, Australia – The first Australian harvest of an experimental crop of non-browning potatoes has researchers saying the genetically altered tubers have potential to produce significant savings for processors. A team at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization has ‘turned off’ the gene that causes potatoes to brown when they are cut or bruised […] Read more

CANBERRA, Australia – Australian grain producers see an opportunity to increase sales to Japan because of Canada’s use of transgenic crops. An Australian Wheat Board official predicts Japan is likely to be extremely cautious about the transgenic crops coming onto the market, including canola and soy beans from Canada and the United States. The board’s […] Read more

World food prize Gurdev Khush, head of the International Rice Research Institute’s plant breeding, genetics and biochemistry division and Henry Beachell, a former IRRI staff member, have won the 1996 World Food Prize. The award recognizes the achievements of individuals who have advanced human development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food. Khush […] Read more

The introduction of new disease-resistant lentil varieties raises the question of whether producers will still have to use fungicide. The jury is out. Al Slinkard, head of pulse crop breeding at the Crop Development Centre of the University of Saskatchewan, believes lentil spraying will become almost a thing of the past. He said the Prairies […] Read more