WEST HAWK LAKE, Man. – The Trans-Canada Highway runs through this craggy, pine-covered land like a long, thin blood vein.It allows only a trickle of traffic to flow from one half of the country to the other.And that’s why it has become the natural place for government and industry to try to apply a tourniquet […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Women’s group relevant at 100
MORRIS, Man. – After 100 years, the Manitoba Women’s Institute isn’t getting tired but it’s definitely getting stretched.“We’re either going to have to get more people to move back to the rural or we’re just going to have to get louder and louder to be heard,” said new MWI president Justina Hop about challenges in […] Read more
Changing lives in Afghanistan
MORRIS, Man. – Lurching around Afghanistan in a truck driven by a man named Abdullah isn’t typical behaviour for an 80-something Canadian woman.But Flora MacDonald has never been a typical woman.And tales of her work in the war-ravaged land meshed neatly with the Manitoba Women’s Institute’s 100th anniversary celebrations last month.Challenges for women and girls […] Read more
Overabundance of durum cools interest on Prairies
Durum seed is a hot commodity in the U.S. northern tier states as American farmers scramble to plant the well-subsidized crop.But that’s the only part of the world in which durum is hot, because good weather in North Africa has swollen production there.”They’re planting it like crazy because of the loan rate,” said Joe Victor […] Read more
Falling euro makes EU hog exports more competitive
Greeks have rioted in fury and Germans have voted in outrage, but as the euro slumps, Dutch and Danish farmers are enjoying an unexpected edge in premium export markets, hog market analysts say.”They’re more competitive in overseas markets,” said Kevin Grier of the George Morris Centre.The euro, the currency of most members of the European […] Read more
Bumper crops still possible for Black Sea region
Crops in Russia, Ukraine and eastern Europe are looking a little less monstrous this year after a difficult winter and bad spring weather hit many regions.But the region’s crops have enough potential and time to give the markets a scare if conditions are right, with prairie farmers already suffering from the blow received last fall […] Read more
Feds plan national securities regulator
The federal government is going to try to build a national securities regulator while leaving three provincial regulators in place.But a representative of a prairie marketplace vital to farmers doesn’t think it will be compromised by this typically Canadian compromise.“We have no preference,” said ICE Futures Canada president Brad Vannan. “As long as regulation remains […] Read more
Ag commodities safe from recent ‘flash crash’
Did the “flash crash” of May 6 scare the bejeebers out of you?It certainly rattled the equity markets and has seen the head of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which is the owner of the main agricultural futures and options contracts in North America, dragged before inquisitors in Washington to provide answers about what happened.The answer […] Read more
Riskonomics and spillonomics
There’s an excellent article on risk and underestimating risk in the online version of the New York Times Magazine that I think every farmer could benefit from. It’s not about farming. It’s about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But its central point is directly relevant crop and livestock hedging: “. . […] Read more
Why commodity booms keep booming
You’d think that everyone would be piling money into canola production considering the new high prices, right? Or you’d think no one would want to invest much money in canola or other crop production considering the mediocre prices and high risks, right? The same could be asked of oil: today has both high and mediocre […] Read more
