Roberta Rampton

The battle over railway running rights boiled over last week when the president of CN Rail delivered a flurry of cutting remarks about short-line operator Omnitrax. In an April 10 speech to the Canada Grains Council, Paul Tellier singled out the company during a speech urging teamwork among the discordant players in the Canadian grain […] Read more

While bulk grain handlers struggle with whether they can or want to segregate and market non-genetically modified crops, Ontario farmers and companies are cashing in on European demand. Since 1996, a broker, a small grain company and a group of farmers have been carving out a market niche for non-GM food-grade soybeans. It can be […] Read more

Many farmers feel a sense of optimism as the growing season approaches. But Don Dewar’s enthusiasm for spring is perennially dampened by the arrival of the Manitoba budget. Each year, the president of Keystone Agricultural Producers tries to plant some ideas in the minds of politicians and their advisers that would reduce costs for farmers […] Read more

The United States government has decided to establish an “American presence post” in Winnipeg. Budget cuts closed a former consulate in the city in 1986. Gordon Giffin, U.S. ambassador to Canada, said the post signals growing ties between his country and Western Canada. The post will be a three-person office. The U.S. consulate in Calgary […] Read more

CARMAN, Man. — Manitoba corn growers have voted to continue their fight against cheap American corn imports that they say push down feed prices in Western Canada. They want to relaunch a trade complaint they brought against imports last summer, this time making sure their case is airtight. Last winter, during the final stages of […] Read more

For the past two years, Manitoba dairy farmers have the dubious distinction of receiving the lowest prices in the country for fluid milk. They intend to take up their case with the provincial agriculture minister after a recent increase failed to bring their prices in line with those received by farmers in other provinces. “There […] Read more

The Manitoba government’s farm lending agency is expanding a loan guarantee program that helps farmers diversify. Since 1995, the Diversification Loan Guarantee Program has backed 25 percent of the $75.6 million lent by banks and credit unions to more than 90 projects. Now, the Manitoba Agricultural Credit Corporation will offer another $50 million in loan […] Read more

Manitoba corn growers seemed to be taking on a giant Goliath when they challenged subsidized and dumped corn brought into Western Canada from the United States. But their complaint was ultimately lost due to another David. Last week, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal released its reasons for quashing the corn growers’ complaint and a four-month […] Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Soon, consumers in Canada and the United States will be able to gauge how much of the cholesterol-boosting, artery-clogging trans fats are in foods on grocery shelves. Labeling regulations in both countries are changing to require manufacturers to measure and list the proportion of trans fats in foods. But the president of […] Read more

The families of Tilston, Man., have seen the Oscar-nominated movie Erin Brockovich, starring Julia Roberts as a buxom single mother who wins a record-large settlement for small-town folk made sick by environmental contaminants. They have noticed the similarities between that story and their struggle to get officials to recognize that emissions from nearby oil batteries […] Read more