Michael Raine

Saskatchewan hog producers bought a prime cut of Saskatoon-based Intercontinental Packers last week. SPI, the provinces monopoly hog seller, bought 16 percent of Saskatchewan’s largest hog slaughter plant. The Fred Mitchell family retains majority ownership of the Saskatoon plant. Earlier this year Intercon entered a 10-year export partnership agreement with Taiwan’s largest exporter of pork, […] Read more

HARPTREE, Sask. – Twenty kilometres from the end of a rail line, an elevator is felled and a community wounded. Built in 1982, the last United Grain Growers elevator within 80 kilometres of this south-central Saskatchewan community was knocked to the ground and burned last week after being closed last December. Local farmers now face […] Read more

Omnitrax, a Denver-based short-line rail company, has been selected as the winning bid and is negotiating with CN Rail to buy 450 kilometres of rail line in northwestern Saskatchewan. “As a finalist in the tender process, Omnitrax is now carefully examining the line and facilities, talking to potential customers and current CN staff affected by […] Read more

When the Rural Municipality of Perdue held its monthly meeting Sept. 9, it had to switch locations to accommodate a larger than usual crowd. One hundred people came to vent their frustrations on both sides of the central Saskatchewan community’s most divisive issue in decades – hog barns. There is opposition to plans by Bear […] Read more

ROULEAU, Sask. – Farmers who use stripper headers on their combines say it’s possible to double the workload of their machines. “We found one machine was doing the work of the other two. Last year when we were under pressure because of the late season, poor weather and with crops laying down, it was impressive,” […] Read more

From prairie to port, grain is queued up. While many blamed last winter’s problems on the extreme cold and the railways, this year most blame lack of sales and ships. “It’s real tight out here in the country,” said Darrel Veregin, a Saskatchewan Wheat Pool elevator manager at Kamsack, Sask. “The farmers need to deliver […] Read more

Automated voice mail in Saskatoon answers calls saying, “Environment Canada. Your window on the weather.” But in Saskatchewan, that window is being closed. Farmers in that province will be getting their weather information from Winnipeg and maybe Edmonton, rather than their home province, starting in March. Last March, weather information offices in Regina and Prince […] Read more

PERDUE, Sask. – Eight men sat in the hog hot seat last week as well-prepared opponents of a large hog development in this small central Saskatchewan town grilled them for nearly four hours. The public meeting called by a group of citizens drew more than 60 rural residents and a panel of local project proponents, […] Read more

Another study of the Canadian Wheat Board is causing a stir in the grain industry. History professor David Bercuson and political science Barry Cooper, both from the University of Calgary, were commissioned by Alberta Agriculture last fall to write a report on the history of the board from 1935 to 1967. The report has been […] Read more

Growing grain has changed a great deal over the past few years and the way it is stored has also changed. As well, seasonal demand for grain bins has shifted dramatically this year. Normally dealers receive the bulk of their orders in June and July for harvest delivery. The 1997 season began much earlier. “We […] Read more