GLENLEA, Man. – Starkly different farmer views are emerging about whether the recently announced federal hog aid programs will save the industry. While national and provincial pork industry leaders have generally praised the loan and mothballing programs, producers in the Red River Valley’s weanling industry see nothing to stop their freefall into economic oblivion. “This […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Writing off a market
It’s stunning to think about, but the Canadian hog industry is seriously considering writing off the U.S. market for both meat and pigs. The nation to the south – the one that unlawfully rebelled in 1776 and treated our ancestors so badly that they had to move way up north – has been our biggest […] Read more
Expected, unexpected
The markets were pretty blase about yesterday’s USDA supply/demand report, seeing little in it to get too excited. Corn went up a little bit on slightly reduced USDA projections for 2009/10 ending stocks, old crop soybeans went down a little bit and new crop went up a little bit on healthy 2009-10 demand projections, and […] Read more
U of M research fraudulent
The University of Manitoba has acknowledged that a highly acclaimed piece of its agriculture research is not just bad science, but actually fraudulent. The university investigated for months allegations that some of the research on plant genetics that Fawzi Razem had done for a team headed by scientist Robert Hill was bogus. On July 30, […] Read more
Petition pleads for hog assistance
Canadian hog producers are using an on-line petition to plead for help from Ottawa, saying their future is dire without immediate support. “The evidence is clear and within the public forum that the Canadian pork industry needs a federally sponsored emergency funding initiative in order to establish a fiscal bridge,” says the petition, available at […] Read more
Dwindling stocks may revive oat price fortunes
Manitoba’s oat acreage has plummeted, but the market doesn’t seem to care. However, analysts think that could change in the winter when buyers begin to see today’s huge stocks dwindle to below-average levels. “My message to the U.S. millers is ‘boys, you’d better get some oats bought, and get yourselves covered, because you aren’t going […] Read more
Innovative boost sought for wheat
CRYSTAL, N.D. – As a wheat seed grower, Brian O’Toole has a vested interested in the crop’s popularity with American farmers. But even though wheat is still the number one crop in North Dakota, its popularity is slipping as traditional acres are eaten up by corn and soybeans. It’s a trend that doesn’t appear likely […] Read more
Unionized farm workers choose to decertify
The first foreign workers to unionize a farm in Canada have turned around and booted out the union. The unanimous vote of the Mexican workers at the Mayfair Farm in Portage la Prairie, Man., to decertify the United Food and Commercial Workers local 832 is being welcomed by farmer representatives as proof that Manitoba farms […] Read more
Puny little prairies
It’s summers like this one that reveal just how puny the prairie crop is as part of the overall North American crop of major crops. Prices for the major crops – wheat, barley, canola – have been rotten recently, as if a giant crop is scheduled to arrive next month in farmers’ bins. That could […] Read more
Great crop? Terrible crop?
On the way down to Winkler on Friday for the Harvest Festival I saw a lot of lush, green, big crops growing in the rain. Seas of golden canola were paired with tasseling corn and flowering pulses. It all looked great – for a crop in the early parts of July. But this is getting […] Read more
