Colleen Munro

YORKTON, Sask. – Harlan Hughes told about 200 cattle producers here last week they don’t have to be victims of low cattle prices. Hughes, an extension livestock economist with North Dakota State University in Fargo, is known for his work that analyzes profit levels of individual cow herds. “When you have six or seven years […] Read more

SASKATOON – Let’s play Trivial Pursuit. Who is Canada’s fifth largest trading partner? No guesses? Here are some clues. Canada does more business with this country than it does with France and the People’s Republic of China. With some nurturing, diplomats and trade analysts say, this country could surpass Germany as our fourth largest trading […] Read more

SASKATOON – Peas have rapidly become one of the most popular special crops on the Prairies. Since 1991, pea acreage has surged by 400 percent to set a record last year at 1.76 million acres. Production, too, set a record at 1.4 million tonnes. But the best news for growers, says Tyler Thorpe, analyst with […] Read more

SASKATOON (Staff) – Ottawa and Washington are helping lentil prices this year. “Government involvement is creating demand in the form of food aid,” said Humboldt Flour Mills vice-president of sales Steve Gadient, during a presentation to the annual meeting of the Saskatchewan Pulse Crop Development Board. The Canadian International Development Agency has also created demand […] Read more

Statistics Canada made it official last week. Prairie farmers grew 7.1 million tonnes of canola this summer, the largest crop ever. And even though canola production is one-third higher than the 1993 crop, surging world demand for vegetable oil has pushed oil prices higher. January canola traded up near the $10-limit on Dec. 5, with […] Read more

REGINA – Scott Watson is no stranger to winning at the commercial cattle show at Canadian Western Agribition. In the last two years, the young rancher from Wolseley, Sask., has taken home the banner for grand champion pen of bred heifers. For the most part, those black and red baldie heifers came off ranches in […] Read more

Western Canadian farmers are going to be paid some of the money for their 1993 wheat, durum and barley crop a little earlier than usual. The Canadian Wheat Board announced adjustments to initial payments of $11 per tonne (30 cents per bushel) for all grades of wheat; $22 per tonne (59 cents per bushel) for […] Read more

WATROUS, Sask. – It wouldn’t be far from the truth to say Canada’s canola production has grown exponentially in the last two years. The 1994 crop that will likely be logged between 7.2 and 7.4 million tonnes, is up nearly 25 percent from 1993’s 5.5 million-tonne crop and nearly double 1992’s crop. With an increase […] Read more

REGINA – When Lorne Thomson rides the crowded bullet trains in Japan, he thinks: “Look at all those customers.” Those were Thomson’s words to the Canada-Japan Trade Council last week. Just two years ago, the chief executive officer of Thomson Meats Ltd. of Melfort, Sask., had never been to Asia. Today, the Saskatchewan meat re-manufacturer […] Read more

Farmers rarely forget. Especially when it comes to prices that have shown a striking tendency to take a ride into the stratosphere. And while the lentil market has done exactly that in the last two years, don’t look for prices to behave the same this buying season. By now, most in the industry agree the […] Read more