India can be a vexing market for exporters such as Canada, which can never count on being able to make sales to the country because of the government’s tendency to intervene in the market.  |  Reuters photo

India’s food balancing act provides opportunities

Exporters work within government’s efforts to keep crop prices high enough for farmers but low enough for consumers

Despite India’s hopes of becoming self-sufficient in food and crop production, a leader of a powerful farm group in that country recently told the Canadian pulse and special crops sector that Canada can play an important role in the giant nation’s needs. “There are lots of opportunities where Pulse Canada and (the National Agricultural Cooperative […] Read more

Complaints about Statistics Canada’s numbers on mustard, dry beans, canaryseed and other small acre crops popped up in presentations and panel discussions throughout the day-and-a-half Canadian Pulse and Special Crops Conference, which drew participants from across Canada and from 21 other countries. | Getty Images

Small crop traders worry about Statistics Canada data

Analysts blame consistent problems with production and export numbers on insufficient resources at the federal agency

Numbers matter in the special crops world — a lot. That was clear at the Canadian Pulse and Special Crops Conference, in which longstanding unhappiness with Statistics Canada’s data on a number of crops kept bubbling to the surface. “I’ve never agreed with StatsCan carry-over numbers on the small crops,” said Kevin Dick, president of […] Read more

Canaryseed exports have dropped below 120,000 tonnes from almost 160,000 tonnes in 2014.  |  File photo

Competition grows tougher for pulse exporters

International buyers turned to new suppliers during recent drought years, and it will be difficult to get the business back

Buyers from around the world were in Winnipeg last week for the Canadian Pulse and Special Crops Trade Convention. However, the sobering news for Canadian farmers, marketers and processors was that those buyers don’t always have to rely on Canada these days. “For a number of crops, like durum, like flax, Canadian isn’t the … […] Read more


Diljeet Brar has had successful careers in Canada since emigrating from India, first with Manitoba Agriculture and then as an MLA, but he still hopes to one day get back to his farming roots.  |  Ed White photo

South Asians want ag jobs, but lack opportunity

Immigrants from countries such as India have a deep passion for agriculture but are unaware of what’s available

This story is part of a series looking into the pools of human talent within Canada’s population that could help fill the growing labour shortage that is crippling many farms. Diljeet Brar knows the pain of not being a farmer. It’s common in his very urban Sikh community in Winnipeg. Thousands of fellow South Asians […] Read more

Diedrah Kelly, executive director for the new Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office in Manila, Philippines, says she has heard from a number of non-Chinese crop buyers that “Canadian companies will come, and they will meet with us, and they will make promises, and they will raise expectations and then they disappear, they ghost us.”  |  Reuters photo

Exporters advised to treat smaller markets with respect

Trade diplomat says brushing off prospective customers if higher-paying markets come knocking can create bad blood

Relationships matter. That’s important to understand in the Indo-Pacific region, where there is enormous potential but where customers need to be treated respectfully, according to Canada’s new agricultural trade representative in the region. “Be very careful about going into a market and the expectations that are raised, and not being able to meet those,” said […] Read more


Canada’s productivity slump threatens to undermine what should be a golden future for Canadian farmers, especially pulse growers, said Farm Credit Canada’s J.P. Gervais at the Canadian Pulse and Special Crops Convention. | Ed White photo

Producers will suffer during Canada’s productivity crisis

Canada’s farmers will suffer if the country’s productivity crisis continues or even worsens. That was the sobering message from Farm Credit Canada’s J.P. Gervais at the Canadian Pulse and Special Crops Convention. Canada’s productivity slump threatens to undermine what should be a golden future for Canadian farmers, especially pulse growers. “I’m super-enthusiastic about the long-term […] Read more

Louise Carduner measures the ears from where the full kernel rows begin rather than the end of the cob because the last few rows are often unfilled. | Ed White photo

VIDEO: Broker stays old school with corn crop estimates

Apps and satellite services have digitalized the job, but many still prefer to estimate crops up close and personal

LETELLIER, Man. — When it comes to estimating corn crops, Louise Carduner knows there’s an app for that. But she isn’t about to use it. “These are the nicest ears I’ve seen,” Carduner burst out enthusiastically while stripping a fat cob of corn in a field bordering the Red River south of Winnipeg. Carduner was […] Read more

Increased immigration has pressured Canada’s largest cities and created social tensions, but there could be a role to play for rural communities in alleviating this pressure while at the same time solving agriculture’s labour shortage.  |  File photo

How many workers are labour-poor farms ignoring?

Air Canada: labour issues. Railroads: labour issues. Canada’s economy: labour issues. How about farmers? Yup, labour issues are the number one problem for many farmers and certainly the overwhelming issue for the agriculture industries built upon the crops and livestock that farmers produce. Labour issues are a not-so-subtle subtext lying beneath the troubles of our […] Read more


Just last week it looked likely that the conference would either be crippled or its attendees stranded by a labour breakdown at Air Canada, but just a day before many of the almost 400 attendees and organizers began lifting off for Winnipeg, the airline and its pilots agreed on a tenative deal that removed that fear. | Screencap via pulseandspecialcropsconvention.com

VIDEO: Pulse, special crops conference dodges roadblocks

It hasn’t officially started, but the Canadian Pulse and Special Crops Trade Association annual conference has already survived more drama than most commodity industries have seen in ages. Just last week it looked likely that the conference would either be crippled or its attendees stranded by a labour breakdown at Air Canada, but just a […] Read more

If you’re trying to reach non-farmers through social media with constructive messages about farming, arguing with people who attack you is counterproductive, says a seasoned agricultural communications professional. | Getty Images

Producers advised against fighting with trolls online

This is part of a series of stories that reporter Ed White will file this summer about the different approaches that can be taken when advocating for agriculture. Fighting trolls might look cool in fantasy movies or when you’re playing Dungeons and Dragons, but it doesn’t achieve much in the real world. If you’re trying […] Read more