Ian Bell

An American farm group hopes producers in Canada and the United States can work together to drive down the global surplus of wheat. Kelly Shockman of the National Farmers Organization recently outlined a proposal to voluntarily trim wheat acreage next year and to hold back part of the harvest from that crop. Shockman, a Lamoure, […] Read more

A rangeland agrologist with Saskatchewan Agriculture listed more than a dozen ways producers can cut the labor and cost of winter feeding cattle. The ideas centred on extending the grazing season. There was also advice for feeding cattle on open areas during the winter, rather than having them penned. Lorne Klein told producers at the […] Read more

The Manitoba Securities Commission investigation into a share offering of a hemp processing venture continues six months after it was launched. And Consolidated Growers and Processors, one of the subjects of the investigation, has no idea when the case will be wrapped up. “The commission said June and it’s December, so your guess is as […] Read more

NEWBURG, N.D. – Spring flooding in parts of North Dakota is increasing the demand for Canadian malting barley and rekindling the lingering debate over the Canadian Wheat Board’s monopoly in foreign market sales. This spring, farmers in the north-central region of North Dakota seeded only about 20 percent of their grain land because of excess […] Read more

Manitoba cattle producers have demanded greater efforts to detect and eliminate tuberculosis in elk and other wildlife that can become infected with the disease. Their calls for action were heightened by reports this fall that another elk just outside Riding Mountain National Park had tested positive for bovine tuberculosis. A hunter shot the elk last […] Read more

CLYDE, N.D. – In a well-rehearsed orchestra of movements, Clarence Sauer slides a brown bag onto a spout that spews out 25 kilograms of flax seed. Sauer then heaves the parcel of flax onto a conveyer belt and reaches for another bag to fill. At the end of the conveyor, the bags are stacked into […] Read more

The Canadian Pork Council applauds the prospect of having two hog industry giants in Manitoba. J.M. Schneider Inc. revealed this month it wants to spend $125 million to expand its hog processing plant in Winnipeg. Maple Leaf Pork this summer started processing hogs at its new $120 million Brandon plant. Each plant wants to process […] Read more

Manure may not be a pretty subject, but it is an important one, said Garland Laliberte, chair of the Manitoba Livestock Manure Management Initiative. On that note, Laliberte last week gave an update on projects the not-for-profit corporation has helped fund during the past two years. He said the manure management initiative has supported 18 […] Read more

Larry Martin last week pointed to what could become an Achilles heel in Western Canada’s hog industry. Martin, chief executive officer of the George Morris Centre in Guelph, Ont., said the Prairies boast the advantage of low-cost production and increasingly efficient processors. But the head of the agri-food think-tank said Western Canada lags behind some […] Read more

FARGO, N.D. – Jim Diepolder typified an underlying mood at the Northern Plains Producer Conference. The cereals and oilseeds grower from Willow City, North Dakota, said farmers in Canada and the United States share the problem of poor commodity prices and should lobby together to better their lot. “We’re not satisfied with the lowest possible […] Read more