A potential jump in world durum supplies has prompted the Canadian Wheat Board to lower its new crop Pool Return Outlook by 55 cents per bushel. The April PRO is $433 per tonne for No. 1 CWAD durum 11.5 percent protein, or $11.78 per bu. at port. A month ago, the board predicted a durum […] Read more
Robert Arnason
Stories by Robert Arnason
U.S. scrutinizes futures market
If nothing else, it’s always good to be heard. On April 22 representatives of U.S. farm groups attended a Commodity Futures Trading Commission hearing to discuss the chaos in agricultural futures markets. One farm lobby, the American Farm Bureau, was satisfied it had a chance to speak its piece, even though no concrete decisions came […] Read more
Grain prices may trigger investment: UN
The rapid rise in grain prices is creating a world of victors and victims, but according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, the crisis also presents an opportunity. “One of the huge advantages at the moment is that agriculture looks like you can make a lot of money on it. Where before, it […] Read more
Russian owners boost Buhler’s tractor output
The hallway poster at Buhler’s head office sets a clear goal for all employees – growth, growth and more growth. The bar chart on the poster is headed upward, rapidly, with the tallest bar representing the company’s ambitious goal of manufacturing 2,000 tractors in 2010. If it reaches that number, it would triple production from […] Read more
Farmers plan more wheat, less barley
Wheat may soon reclaim its crown, because Canadian farmers are expected to plant significantly more of it this spring. Total wheat acres will to jump 16.2 percent this year compared to 2007, based on Statistics Canada acreage intentions survey released April 21. Durum will be the big winner, rising to 5.9 million acres, a 22.5 […] Read more
Egyptian wheat plans in doubt
Plunged into chaos by a rapid rise in prices, Egypt is determined to harvest more wheat this year. Egypt is perennially the number one or two wheat importer in the world. The country’s agriculture minister Amin Abaza told the Middle East News Agency that he expects Egypt to grow eight million tonnes of wheat this […] Read more
Rising prices shortchange foodgrains bank
The massive rise in the price of wheat and rice is forcing the Canadian Foodgrains Bank to say no to drought-stricken Ethiopia. “We are receiving significant requests to provide food (for Ethiopia),” foodgrains bank executive director Jim Cornelius wrote in an e-mail to The Western Producer. “We are having to tell our long standing partners […] Read more
Fertilizer widens urban-rural divide
The growing rift between rural and urban Manitobans over Lake Winnipeg has widened a few more metres. On April 15, Winnipeg city councillor Mike O’Shaughnessy blamed farmers for the oxygen loss in Lake Winnipeg, saying Manitoba’s farmers are doing nothing to solve the problem while the City of Winnipeg is spending millions of dollars to […] Read more
Welfare cases soar
Over the last two years animal welfare complaints have mushroomed in Manitoba, jumping to 390 in 2007 from approximately 100 in 2005. Those numbers don’t indicate a problem with animal care in the province, but are a measure of a successful awareness campaign. The Manitoba Farm Animal Council (MFAC) has heavily promoted the Animal Care […] Read more
Farm champions take agriculture to streets
Agriculture in the Classroom, a Manitoba program with the goal of increasing agricultural awareness among students, has set its sights on a much larger target audience – the entire province. In a few weeks the outreach program will launch Faces of Agriculture. The project has the ambitious goal of bridging the growing gap between the […] Read more
