A tiny outfit in Winnipeg is showing that after 19 years in the business it still understands how to connect the urban consumer to the farmer. And in their success so far, and their clearsighted view forward, they’re showing organic and local-market farmers a model of how to bridge that urban-rural divide. The Tall Grass […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Pigging out on schadenfreude
As readers of the paper version of The Western Producer will see today when they get their copy from their mailboxes, I have just completed a special report on the crisis facing the hog industry and what the longer term implications are for farmers. I looked (too briefly) at what seem to me to be […] Read more
Processors scramble for sunflower seeds
Orders are pouring in for Manitoba confectionary sunflower seeds, but marketers and farmers don’t have much to offer them. Last year’s crop is spoken for and this year’s crop is weeks away from maturity. “From my customers around the world, I am getting inquiries about seeds with a big, big size because they’re worried they […] Read more
Frost fears fade; market weakens
Grain markets are flagging as frost fears fade, crop size forecasts increase and farmers start hauling to the elevator system. “It really isn’t much of a factor anymore,” said Errol Anderson of Pro Market Communications about the frost fears that had been propping up crop prices. “It’s quickly fading and if we got a frost […] Read more
Farmers reap internet benefits
Lorne Loeppky doesn’t like to be on the phone when he is busy managing his 3,500 acres of crop, delivering grain or overseeing his hog barns. But until a few years ago that was the typical farmer’s plight: at the busiest times of the year things can go wrong and producers have to shut down […] Read more
Crisis forces producers to evolve – Special Report (about)
Hog producers across the country are assessing their ability to continue. Their equity is exhausted, weighed down by losses of $30 a pig or more for at least two years. U.S. country-of-origin labelling has mostly shut down the weanling export business. The recession and trade restrictions linked to the H1N1 flu virus hammered pork demand, […] Read more
Crisis forces producers to evolve – Special Report (main story)
The hog industry that arises from the current crisis will need to be fundamentally different from the one that’s dying today, hog industry economists say. If producers who survive this downturn hope to survive the next one, they need to reengineer their production systems, financial foundation and marketing approach. “Recognize that the world has changed,” […] Read more
Stay or go? Families struggle with difficult decision – Special Report (story 2)
LANDMARK, Man. – Hog production is still going full-steam at Marg Rempel’s farm, as is the flow of red ink. Because so few details are available about new federal hog industry aid programs, Rempel is putting off until Christmas the agonizing decision about whether to close the barns on her 500-sow, farrow-to-finish operation. “By the […] Read more
Hog sector fears dollar parity
Talk of the Canadian dollar possibly reaching par with the American dollar is sending shivers down the spines of many Canadian farmers. But some non-bank analysts are not convinced that the loonie is likely to reach parity with the U.S. dollar. “Maybe it is. It feels a bit like it’s going that way,” acknowledged broker […] Read more
Greyhound threatens halt to rural service
Farmers and seniors could be hit hard if Greyhound Lines pulls out of rural Manitoba, rural representatives say. Greyhound Canada has announced it plans to cut all of its passenger service in rural Manitoba and northwestern Ontario Oct. 2 if it doesn’t receive millions of dollars in subsidies to keep operating money-losing routes. However, the […] Read more
