Roberta Rampton

This time next year, the first generation of hogs with prolific Chinese genetics are expected to be in prairie hog barns. Genex Swine Group Inc., formerly known as National Pig Development (Canada) Co. Ltd., has been working at integrating the Meishan genetics from a Chinese breed of hogs for two decades. Breeding stock containing the […] Read more

STEINBACH, Man. – The Dirks kids run their hands over the long pine table in their family’s comfortable kitchen, peering closely at marks made over time. They find traces of their homework, words that passed through their notebooks and become lightly etched into the soft table to-10-P. Eight-year-old Stefan finds his Christmas wish-list from last […] Read more

Bill McLean’s interest in the meat packing industry was bred in the bone. His grandfather was a butcher in Brandon and his father worked at a packing house in the city and later, a Winnipeg abattoir. “I was proud that my family worked in the industry. I’m proud I work in the industry,” said McLean, […] Read more

The Manitoba legislature went back to work last week and started off a new session with some promises for farmers. In its speech from the throne, the NDP government said it plans to reduce crop insurance premiums this year because of low grain prices. It will also roll out Project 2000, a program announced during […] Read more

Neil Arbuckle remembers getting stumped by the $110-million question at a meeting with former Manitoba agriculture minister Harry Enns. Seed growers from Manitoba, along with Arbuckle, who is manager of Proven Seed, were lobbying the minister to maintain funding for provincial variety evaluation trials. That’s when Enns asked a question that no one could answer: […] Read more

Despite a tariff that has raised the price of corn, it’s business as usual for the Seagram distillery in Gimli, Man., according to a company spokesperson. The Seagram plant buys corn from Manitoba farmers and imports corn from the United States to make whisky. Since Nov. 7, that corn has been more expensive. That’s when […] Read more

At most Canadian farm meetings, the European Union is sneered at for its complex, massive subsidies for farmers, and the impact of those subsidies on world markets. But there are signs that some of those subsidies are getting begrudging respect. Many of Manitoba’s top agricultural policymarkers gathered on Dec. 6 at a seminar examining the […] Read more

Manitoba dairy farmers have turned up their noses to export opportunities offered by processors. “We’re a little bit surprised that producers aren’t taking advantage of the export contracts,” said Bill Swan, chair of Manitoba Milk Producers. Since August, 40 contracts have attracted only 200,000 litres of milk per month, less than one percent of Manitoba’s […] Read more

Manitoba dairy producers have quietly laid to rest a company they designed to set up export contracts between farmers and processors. Last week, they dissolved the four-month-old Manitoba Commercial Milk Export Corp. Federal trade experts rejected the corporation, explaining export competitors would not see it as independent enough from Manitoba Milk Producers. The corporation was […] Read more

Federal statisticians have put their final polish on grain supply numbers for the year. In most cases, there were only minor adjustments to earlier estimates of how much grain, oilseeds and special crops farmers would grow. By this stage of the crop year, markets are focused more on demand than on small changes to Canadian […] Read more