The Canola Council of Canada has committed $240,000 in research funding to investigate the lesser-known benefits of canola. The canola council will partner with the Natural Sciences Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Syngenta Crop Protection to fund work by Usha Thiyam of the University of Manitoba. In total, the three organizations will provide […] Read more
Robert Arnason
Stories by Robert Arnason
South Korea seeks feed self-sufficiency
South Korea’s decision to invest $1.67 billion US in its agricultural land to reduce its dependence on imported feed is a threat to producers around the globe, says a professor at the University of Guelph, Ont. “If every country follows this route, then all countries are made worse off,” said Maury Bredahl, director of the […] Read more
Ranchers told to stand by green records
Robert Sopuck has a simple and strong message for cattle producers when it comes to dealing with people he describes as condominium conservationists. “You want to knock these people back on their heels,” said Sopuck, an environmentalist and advocate for active management of landscape who lives in Sandy Lake, Man., 60 kilometres north of Brandon. […] Read more
Rain frustrates Manitoba’s Interlake farmers
Yet another downpour in the Interlake region of Manitoba, this time 100 millimetres, has producers in the area wondering if they’ll ever get on the land this summer. “The fields have been inaccessible for three months now,” said Garry Wasylowski, a cattle producer in the Rural Municipality of Armstrong, 80 kilometres north of Winnipeg. “People […] Read more
Stats Canada expects record canola crop
Canadian farmers are expected to produce 10.37 million tonnes of canola this year, topping last year’s record crop of 9.53 million tonnes, based on Statistics Canada’s latest estimates. In its Aug. 22 forecast of field crop production, Statistics Canada said the increase of 847,000 tonnes was calculated from an anticipated average yield of 29.3 bushels […] Read more
Markets heat up
For those who love adrenalin and the chance to make a month’s pay in 20 minutes, these are good times in the commodity markets. “There was an 84 cent range in soybeans yesterday …. If you’ve got the right numbers in front of you, with that kind of range you can get in and get […] Read more
Two Manitoba dairies hope to fill organic milk demand
Conrad Zacharias gets right to the point when asked why he converted his dairy farm to an organic operation. “It’s a response to consumer demand. That’s pretty basic. There’s a market out there for this stuff and the way to survive as a farmer is to sell people what they want,” said Zacharias, whose dairy […] Read more
U.S. company buys into Canterra Seeds
A new company, Riverland Agriculture, has purchased 25 percent of the shares of Canterra Seeds for $3.1 million. The money and the new partnership will help Canterra develop products and secure links to new customers, said its chief executive officer. “This is the kind of agreement that gives an organization like Canterra the strength to […] Read more
Quality wheat may be limited: experts
A large harvest of low quality wheat in Ukraine, combined with lower quality winter wheat from the U.S., may lead to greater demand for quality, high protein spring wheat, says a U.S. market analyst. “Throughout the winter wheat areas (in the U.S.) protein was lower than normal,” said Kim Anderson, an agricultural economist at Oklahoma […] Read more
Canadians must boost marketing ambitions
How many Canadian brands are in the world’s Top 100? Five? Three? 20? The answer, it turns out, is zero, according to Andrea Mandel-Campbell, author of Why Mexicans Don’t Drink Molson, a hard-hitting critique of Canadian companies which, for multiple reasons, have barely dipped a toe into the global marketplace. “I’m not talking about beer, […] Read more
