Roberta Rampton

WINNIPEG – A group of farmers and business people in Russell, Man., are preparing for life after the Crow by considering a gluten extraction plant. They call themselves Borderland Ventures, and chair Herb Lovas says they’ve been thinking for a year about the high freight rates they will face when the Western Grain Transportation Act […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Cable television subscribers aren’t the only ones angry about negative option billing. Wheat and barley growers faced a similar situation when a checkoff for plant breeding research was taken from their final Canadian Wheat Board payments. Lyle Powell, of Souris, Man., was one farmer who wrote the foundation to get his money back. […] Read more

WINNIPEG (Staff) – If you requested your wheat and barley checkoff money back, and are now wondering where it is, rest assured Herman Austenson is not sitting on it. He is more likely buried in it. Austenson is the executive director and sole employee of the Western Grains Research Foundation. He works only half-days. And […] Read more

REGINA (Staff) – Farmers often ignore advice that could prevent injuries or help their health, say health workers in Alberta and Saskatchewan. “Farmers are getting hurt not because they lack the knowledge” of safety measures, said Solomon Kyeremanteng of Alberta’s health department. “They know. So how do we motivate them to do the things they […] Read more

WINNIPEG – The new president of Manitoba’s general farm lobby group found out first-hand last week that environmental regulations he helped draft really work. Les Jacobson, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, was charged for not properly disposing of dead hogs. He received a ticket from the environment department after angry neighbors took a Winnipeg newspaper […] Read more

REGINA (Staff) – The New Democratic Party government plans to set up a board to head off legal disputes over how Saskatchewan farmers use their land. Agriculture minister Darrel Cunningham said at the opening of the new session of the legislature Monday that the Agricultural Operations Act will establish a panel to deal with these […] Read more

REGINA (Staff) – The woman who changed the face of rural health care in Saskatchewan is no longer health minister. Louise Simard, the author of the province’s “wellness” approach and the architect of dozens of hospital closings and changes, resigned the health portfolio last week. She will stay on as an MLA, but will not […] Read more

BRANDON, Man. – Farmers just getting into zero till can expect to spend a lot on fertilizer. So it’s not surprising that those attending a recent zero-till workshop here were eager for tips on how to get more bang for their fertilizer buck. Terry Roberts, a director of the Potash and Phosphate Institute, came armed […] Read more

BRANDON, Man. (Staff) – Farmers at a workshop here recently learned about a plow that isn’t pulled by a tractor. It’s only eight to 20 centimetres long and wriggles around on its own horsepower. Make that worm power. A soil scientist from Indiana’s Purdue University said earthworms and nightcrawlers often thrive in no-till fields because […] Read more

New locomotives CN is getting some high-powered help to handle record traffic levels. Twenty-three new 4400 HP locomotives have been delivered to CN’s Calder yard in Edmonton. The locomotives are suited to long distances and heavy tonnages which are characteristic of Western Canadian rail traffic, CN said in a news release. All the locomotives will […] Read more