Barry Wilson

Based on 1996 tax data compiled by Revenue Canada, the federal government reported last week that farms with mixed livestock operations were the most profitable, averaging $73,238 in net operating income. The greatest gains came on hog farms, where the net operating income soared 49.2 percent in one year to $41,497. Grain farms, with average […] Read more

The Canadian Wheat Board reform road show is preparing another tour of Western Canada, thanks to the Senate agriculture committee and its plans for spring hearings on CWB legislation. Members on the committee last week said they want to give farmers one last chance to speak on Bill C-4 at public hearings planned in late […] Read more

In the face of attacks from both sides of the issue, Canadian Wheat Board minister Ralph Goodale last week sent his CWB reform legislation to the Senate claiming it is the best compromise possible. “Bill C-4 represents an honest attempt to find some reasonable common ground,” Goodale told the House of Commons during debate Feb. […] Read more

WINNIPEG – A defeat in court, followed by a stern lecture from a Winnipeg judge, have done little to deter farmers vowing to break the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly. “Our philosophy is we’re going to be in the wheat board’s face on this until we win,” said Russ Larson, chair of the Canadian Farm Enterprise […] Read more

The much-anticipated explosion in hog production on the Prairies is slow to ignite and federal economists are predicting it could slow down even more this year. Livestock herd numbers compiled by Statistics Canada report that only in Manitoba did the hog expansion show life last year. The provincial herd increased 2.8 percent to just under […] Read more

All 10 provinces have agreed to be part of the new national chicken production allocation agreement when it takes effect June 7. Late last week, British Columbia and Ontario said they’d sign the deal, worked out in January after almost a year of fractious negotiations. The new national agreement will be signed March 25 in […] Read more

As they fought Liberal plans for Canadian Wheat Board changes last week, Reform party members of Parliament found themselves under attack for some of their more harsh comments about the board. “It’s been a long time since I have heard that kind of extremism in the House of Commons,” veteran Saskatchewan New Democratic Party MP […] Read more

When Reform MPs last week argued that the Canadian Wheat Board should have to open its books to the auditor general of Canada, they had some high-level bureaucratic support on their side. Auditor general Denis Desautels has repeatedly made the same point to the Liberal government, although privately. “The auditor general has been in private […] Read more

Reform Party MPs used the best Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera tactics they could dream up last week to try to embarrass Liberals into senate reform and Liberal senator Andrew Thompson into coming to work. The scheme, to no one’s surprise, did not succeed on either count. But most people (aside from Thompson, prime minister […] Read more

By early March, a pilot project allowing American grain to flow into prairie grain elevators should be operating, says a senior Agriculture Canada trade official. Livestock feeders in southern Manitoba and Alberta could be the main beneficiaries as they find their expanding feed needs are greater than local supplies. Acting assistant deputy minister Mike Gifford […] Read more