If oat traders want to know where prices are headed, it’s simply a matter of glancing at the corn-trading pit. “Corn’s limit down today and so are oats,” said trader Vic Lespinasse, from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade July 7. “When corn is moving in limit moves, it tends to overpower everything […] Read more
Robert Arnason
Stories by Robert Arnason
Climate change policies questioned
If you need an example of how global warming policies are foolhardy and hazardous to the planet, look no further than biofuel subsidies, says National Post columnist Lawrence Solomon. “We’re getting food riots because of our attempts to convert our food lands into fuel lands,” said Solomon, noting that he’s not against biofuel, but the […] Read more
Proposed biofuel plant strictly for producers
BEAUSEJOUR, Man. – When asked who can join their co-op, the chair of Brokenhead River Biofuels Ltd. responds quickly. “You’ve got to be an agricultural producer. Otherwise, you cannot join,” said Hans Muster. Muster and the 25 members of the co-op plan for construction to begin this August on a canola crushing plant and five […] Read more
Corn price dips after U.S. acreage report
It had to come to an end. After a spectacular runup in June, corn took a big hit on the last day of the month, with prices limit down (30 cents US) in most contract months on the Chicago Board of Trade. The June 30 U.S. Department of Agriculture report delivered the blow, as it […] Read more
Forage crops squeezed out by high priced alternatives
As most of the agricultural world has focused on flooded cornfields in Iowa, Ed Shaw has kept his eye on another crop that’s taking a beating. “There’s been huge amounts of acreage taken out of forage, worldwide … and the reason for the reduction is the chasing of the biofuels in the cereals and oilseeds,” […] Read more
Youths motivated by co-operative movement
It turns out there is a solution to the packs of loitering youths that have vexed small communities and riled shopkeepers since the existence of teenagers and towns. But it doesn’t require dollars for a new skateboard park or a youth outreach centre. The solution, apparently, is starting a co-operative. Two years ago, Matt Ford […] Read more
Farmers not locking in prices
Doing nothing may be more about procrastination than about strategy, but it was definitely the most successful marketing plan last year. Producers who did not contract and held on to their canola or wheat cashed in on the record prices this spring and had a good tale to tell on coffee row. However, one market […] Read more
Buckwheat waits for medical boost
The last two decades haven’t been kind to buckwheat. In Manitoba, which grows most of the buckwheat on the Prairies, acreage has gone from 60,000 in the early 1990s to less than 10,000 acres in 2007. However, future decades may be friendlier for the white flowered crop if Dr. Carla Taylor can prove that buckwheat […] Read more
Foreign millers notice changes in food tastes
Xiaobin Wu has a culinary dilemma to ponder as he walks to the grocery store from his home in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong – pizza pops or rice? “My family is a very typical Chinese family,” he says. “(But) my son, he is 10 years old now, is a surprise to me. He […] Read more
Couple build niche ranch slowly
LA BROQUERIE, Man. – You can take the girl out of Alberta, but you can’t … well, you know the rest. Shanyn Silinski, who was raised on a ranch southwest of Lethbridge, has pulled her Alberta cowgirl roots and transplanted them to the eastern edge of the Prairies, near La Broquerie, Man. “It’s one extreme […] Read more
