Ranchers Dorothy and Dan Willows will have their 17th and last annual horse production sale this September because the market for one of their products is drying up. Forty-nine prairie producers of pregnant mare’s urine have lost their contracts due to a drop in the demand for pharmaceutical estrogen. “It has been a great business […] Read more
Stories by Michael Raine
Public role in research lauded – Special Report (story 1)
A Canada without canola? Canola, which began from a few selected seeds low in erucic acid that were shepherded through more than a decade of expensive plant breeding research, is arguably one of Agriculture Canada’s greatest achievements. Such an achievement might not be possible in today’s research climate. Keith Downey, who along with the late […] Read more
Ag research: changing priorities – Special Report (main story)
Federal agricultural research is changing. The most obvious evidence is the news that several older facilities will close, but the restructuring goes deeper. It is not clear where the changes will take federal farm research, but some farmers and agricultural organizations worry the result will be reduced activity, less crop and practical farm agronomy research […] Read more
Research centres revamped or retired – Special Report (story 2)
The federal government last month announced plans to close four agricultural research facilities. The closures will affect the Cereal Research Centre in Winnipeg, the Dairy and Swine Research Development Centre in Kapuskasing, Ont., the Atlantic Cool Climate Crop Research Centre in St. John’s, Nfld., and the 530 acre Crops and Livestock Research Centre in Nappan, […] Read more
Producers find cheaper vet drugs in U.S.
American low-cost veterinary drugs are finding their way onto Canadian farms, producing dramatic savings for producers. Under federal legislation, non-prescription veterinary drugs are allowed into Canada under a personal-use clause in Health Canada regulations. Canadian farmers must import the drugs personally and are not supposed to import more than they need for their own animals. […] Read more
Ranch reaps most from grain
ESTEVAN, Sask. Ñ In the dwindling decades of the 20th century, Brian Ross took the market signals seriously. The death of the Crow Benefit transportation subsidy was the birth of his family’s cattle expansion. The L7 Ranch is tucked between the Estevan coalfields and the American border. His father and grandfather had run a mixed […] Read more
USDA to appeal Montana BSE ruling
The United States Department of Agriculture is appealing the Federal District Court’s interim injunction that blocked Canadian cattle from entering the U.S. March 7. Mike Johanns, U.S. secretary of agriculture, told reporters in Washington, D.C., March 18 that a successful appeal would quickly allow Canadian cattle to flow south if his department wins in the […] Read more
Aid may be hurting poor
Rural aid programs and multinational agricultural research companies may be a greater threat to the Third World than malnutrition, according to a group of scientists and farmers touring Canada. The group from developing countries toured Canada recently to lobby government officials and raise public awareness that western governments and corporations need to be more culturally […] Read more
Federated gets new president
Glen Tully and his wife Judy won’t be planting a crop on their Marquette, Man., farm this season. Tully is replacing longtime Federated Co-operatives Ltd. president Denis Banda as head of the one million-member co-op and will be required to live in Saskatoon where the company’s head office is located. “We’ll see spring in Saskatchewan […] Read more
No stranger to leadership
MOOSOMIN, Sask. Ñ Sinclair Harrison wore a grin and bit of a cold as he watched Sunday sports in his and wife Gail’s comfortable farmhouse north of Moosomin, Sask. Sinc, as farmers, friends and politicians across the nation know him, got both the smile and the virus from doing what he says he hopes he […] Read more
