In 2009, western Canadian farm groups submitted a report to federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz and Agriculture Canada, outlining options for a program that would provide security to producers when grain buyers defaulted on payments. The main options were fund-based, insurance-based and bond-based programs. It was not that there wasn’t already a form of protection […] Read more
Stories by Doug Chorney
Man. water drainage plans good news
I have heard that some farmers are concerned about new developments in provincial water management and drainage in Manitoba. However, I am convinced the two proposed strategies announced re-cently by the provincial government are positive news. In the short term, we will see expedited minor drainage projects, and in the long term, we will see […] Read more
GF2 reshapes public policy, but at a cost
Farmers and the general public should be seriously pondering the long-term effects of the federal-provincial-territorial Whitehorse agreement on Growing Forward 2 signed last month. As producers get over the initial shock of the obvious — the realization that the government consultation process was nothing more than window dressing, that the new AgriStability program is only […] Read more
Science must decide pesticide debate
Manitoba conservation minister Gord Mackintosh indicated Sept. 24 that it was all but certain the government would implement a ban on urban pesticide use in the province. It appears as though he has made up his mind before the public consultation period is even over. Mackintosh seems to be speaking out of turn before Manitobans […] Read more
Digging deeper into ag census numbers
The recently released 2011 agricultural census shows that the number of farms in Canada has decreased by 10.3 percent, while the average farm size has increased by 6.9 percent. This doesn’t mean that family farm operators are getting out and leaving farming to corporations with little interest in sustaining the land and the communities that […] Read more
Trade doable with supply management
Canada’s supply management system has been in the spotlight over the past few weeks through local and national news reports. We can identify at least two recent undertakings that may be generating discussion. We have heard rumblings recently from the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, following its inaugural Summit on Parliament in October, about supply […] Read more
Manitoba power line route must change
Doug Chorney, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, says farmers will suffer the effects of the Bipole III power line. Farmers will be directly affected by the construction of the Bipole III power transmission line and Keystone Agricultural Producers continues to lobby the government of Manitoba to abandon the plan to develop the west side route. […] Read more
