The Manitoba Canola Producers Association has shelved plans to voluntarily market canola through the Canadian Wheat Board. In April, the association placed ads in farm newspapers to gauge interest in the concept of selling canola in a pool through the wheat board. However, the ads and related media coverage didn’t generate sufficient interest in the […] Read more
Robert Arnason
Stories by Robert Arnason
Red River farmers get started
Extensive flooding this spring in Manitoba’s Red River Valley didn’t stop some farmers in the region from starting to seed last week. Lorne Hamblin, who usually grows more than 3,000 acres of canola, soybeans and cereals, said producers east of the Red River near Morris began seeding April 29. “The guys were seeding on Friday. […] Read more
Manitoba Conservatives caught off guard over majority win
After listening to polls and more polls predicting a minority Conservative government, the final election result surprised many Tory supporters in Brandon including Jim McCrae, campaign manager for Merv Tweed, MP for Brandon-Souris. “I read polls too much. Polls have been saying Tory minority, Tory minority,” said McCrae, former provincial cabinet minister in Manitoba and […] Read more
Conservative majority has Manitoba farm leaders anxious
Doug Chorney, president of the Keystone Agricultural Producers, is taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to Canada’s new Conservative majority government. Chorney hopes that prime minister Harper and the Conservative party will work with farmers and producer groups to develop Canada’s agriculture policy, but he’s not sure how the Tories will use their newfound […] Read more
Spring blizzard paints gloomy picture in western Manitoba
A spring storm that hit western Manitoba April 30 and May 1 will likely delay seeding by two weeks or more in the parkland region, says the provincial government. The storm, which dumped 10 to 50 centimetres of snow and up to 50 millimetres of rain on parts of the province, isn’t a calamity because […] Read more
Manitoba leads in soil testing, precision ag
The number of soil tests conducted in Manitoba has nearly tripled in less than a decade. Data collected by the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) found that the number of soil samples sent to testing labs increased to 42,000 last year from 15,000 in 2001. John Heard, a soil fertility specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, said […] Read more
Soil test verifies nutrient needs
The Canola Council of Canada is receiving more calls than usual this spring about fertilization. Prairie soil is saturated with water, with the exception of Alberta’s Peace River region, and many producers want to know if they still have nitrogen and sulfur in their soil. “The most common questions are regarding the more mobile nutrients, […] Read more
Manitoba storm to delay seeding
A storm that dumped 10 to 50 centimetres of snow across western Manitoba and up to 50 mm of rain on other parts of the province over the weekend could delay seeding by two or more weeks in Manitoba’s Parkland region, says a Manitoba Agriculture representative in Dauphin. “It’s going to take two weeks,” said […] Read more
Drought worsens on U.S. southern plains
Rain has finally fallen on Oklahoma, but not on the state’s wheat fields. Thunderstorms over the Easter weekend dumped rain on the eastern half of Oklahoma, but the precipitation was really needed elsewhere, said Mark Hodges, a grain marketer in the state. “It (fell) outside of the normal wheat belt,” said Hodges, executive director of […] Read more
Southern U.S. wheat growers get crush on canola
Jeff Scott’s neighbours were concerned when he grew canola for the first time in 2004 in north-central Oklahoma. “I had guys calling me and telling me that my turnips weren’t making (it),” said Scott, who farms near Pond Creek west of Tulsa. “They had been out there digging up my turnips and there weren’t any […] Read more
