The loonie is soaring and that’s biting a chunk out of the recent rally in Canadian crop and livestock prices. But advisers aren’t unanimous on whether it’s worth hedging the currency risk. “We may go above 90 cents (value of the Canadian dollar in U.S. dollar terms). We could see a 92 cent loonie, that […] Read more
Ed White
Stories by Ed White
Beef industry gives minister pat on back
GROSSE ISLE, Man. – The Manitoba Cattle Producers Association is crediting the federal agriculture minister for getting Canadian beef back into the world market. At a recent media briefing, association officials said Gerry Ritz’s visits to foreign countries and his lobbying to reopen closed markets and gain new ones is putting more dollars into producers’ […] Read more
Beef studies misleading: expert
GROSSE ISLE, Man. – Michael Trevan hopes a wave of common sense breaks over the turgid waters of debate about beef. “As part of an otherwise balanced diet, this stuff is fine,” the University of Manitoba’s dean of agriculture told a Manitoba Cattle Producers Association media briefing May 21. Trevan’s comments were prompted by the […] Read more
MWI supports cellphone ban
SELKIRK, Man. – No one would be crazy enough to text message while driving, right? Wrong. Even careful drivers sometimes use cellphones, so teenagers are likely to take even bigger risks. “I’m guilty of (talking on a cellphone while driving) myself,” said Rivers Women’s Institute member Dianne Kowalchuk in an interview. “Sometimes when the phone […] Read more
Volunteers face increasing demands
SELKIRK, Man. – Shelley Cure has four kids, operates a dairy farm and hay business with her husband and just got back from a trip to China. And she’s the vice-chair of the Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council. Cure chalked up her success in balancing many roles to a couple of factors. “Time management is a […] Read more
I’m so woanwey
Ever since seeing the documentary Team America: World Police I’ve had trouble taking North Korea’s dictator seriously. Even after seeing him manipulate all those Hollywood actors to do his evil bidding. Those goofy glasses and his bravura performance singing “I’m so lonely” in an Elmer Fuddish style cracked me up. I never have understood why […] Read more
Bucking buck
Friday, while I was sorting through notes from a cattle industry briefing, trying to learn a new expense recording system and pondering the collapse of the Roman republic into civil war, anarchy and dictatorship, the Canadian loonie surged a full cent. Or, rather, the American greenback slumped about a penny. (Ever notice our pennies look […] Read more
Naked, exposed, wet
A few days ago, halfway down a 12 kilometre patch of muddy bog humorously represented as a road on the map, I felt rather naked and exposed to disaster. My two-wheel drive vehicle was almost sinking up to the axles and spinning tires in each 50 metre long section of mud that appeared in the […] Read more
All messed up, nowhere to grow
ARBORG, Man. – Other than thousands of seagulls, ducks and geese, there’s nothing moving on most fields in Manitoba’s Interlake. In a normal year, farmers would be busy seeding, but this year many fields have a bed of crushed crop from last fall, others are deeply scarred by enormous ruts from farmers who tried to […] Read more
Recovering economy prompts crop price rally from May 21, 2009
The rally in prairie farmers’ main crop markets continued in the week before Victoria Day, pushing Winnipeg canola futures to as high as $10.80 per bushel and Minneapolis wheat to $7.25 US per bu. Grain and oilseed prices for old and new crop years were supported by several factors, including the generally upbeat mood in […] Read more
