BRANDON – Market analysts gave farmers at Manitoba Ag Days an overwhelmingly bullish price outlook for 2011. But all three main analysts said it won’t be straight up from here. “I think what’s gone on in the last six or eight months in terms of market action, market volatility, the inability to predict from hour […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Sunflowers profitable, but sclerotinia tempers interest
BRANDON, Man. – Confectionary sunflowers are at the top of the profitability list for Manitoba farmers, some crop return calculators are showing. And acreage is expected to fall 20 to 30 percent. The wild contradiction of these expectations is explained by the fear of sclerotinia gripping many farmers in the Red River Valley. “Definitely disease […] Read more
Probiotics tailored to specific job
Probiotics get a lot of hype in human and animal nutritional research. But research at the University of Manitoba shows they also can have a lot of potential. “If you design probiotics with a very specific function in mind … you can get a very satisfactory result,” Denis Krause said during Hog and Poultry Days […] Read more
Correction coming?
I’m out at Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon, and as brutally cold as it is outside (I’m about to find out if my car will start this morning), farmers are glowing with optimism about the coming year. There’s a lot of anxiety amongst producers, from what I can pick up, about saturated soils that will […] Read more
2008 echoes – but which part?
Anyone who knows me knows that I go on and on – tiresomely and incessantly – with my wondering about the question: Are we re-living the 1970s or 1930s? It’s a question of vital importance for farmers, because the 1970s made lots of farmers (temporarily) rich, and the 1930s did the opposite. So whether we’re […] Read more
Blackleg makes reappearance
ST. JEAN BAPTISTE, Man. – After years away, blackleg has suddenly reappeared as a problem for many prairie canola growers. In its absence, farmers let their guard down and picked up habits that make them vulnerable to a renaissance of the disease, a Manitoba Agriculture agrologist told farmers at St. Jean Farm Days. “In the […] Read more
Analyst predicts correction before rally resumes
A famed Winnipeg bull market predictor is telling farmers to be cautious, even though he thinks higher prices will arrive in the spring. “I’m not the raging bull that I was in early 2008,” said David Drozd, a technical analyst and head of farmer advisory firm Ag-Chieve. “It’s a different market environment. We could see […] Read more
Manitoba producers learn what pays, what doesn’t
Red River Valley farmers should be beaming at early 2011 crop profit projections by Manitoba Agriculture, because a number of the valley’s favourite crops top the list. Also, as farmers across the Prairies have discovered with their pencils this winter, flax and canola look much better on paper than wheat and barley. Canola, based on […] Read more
Money tight in hog sector but future investment inevitable
It’s hard flogging products to producers who are almost broke and feeling broken. But some exhibitors at Manitoba’s Hog and Poultry Days in Winnipeg said they don’t mind getting their products into farmers’ minds, even if they don’t make a lot of sales at this show. “It’ll change, just wait,” said an optimistic Tim Bierman, […] Read more
Feed holding tank reduces phosphorus level in manure, reduces feed costs
A couple of big plastic tanks were all one Manitoba Hutterite colony needed to slash by half the phosphorus in hog manure. That’s proof that farmers can take simple steps to greatly reduce the phosphorus emissions of their animals, the key restriction on the viability of livestock production in many parts of Manitoba, said a […] Read more
