Roberta Rampton

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

They had passed the empty Eaton’s flagship store in the deserted downtown core, and rounded the corner of Portage and Main, the site of so many historic protests. They looked up at office workers looking down from the bank towers, the commodity exchange building, the grain commission and Agriculture Canada. But when the marchers reached […] Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite intense media coverage of the StarLink corn debacle, Americans are showing few signs of alarm over genetically modified food. A sociologist who monitors consumer reaction to biotechnology issues said he was surprised at the non-reaction to the hubbub over StarLink. The GM variety has been approved for feed use in the […] Read more

Four months after a high tariff effectively shut American corn out of Western Canada, supplies began to trickle in again last week. On March 7, a tribunal examining corn trade in Western Canada lifted the tariff after ruling subsidized American corn has not injured Manitoba corn growers. The ruling came as a shock to supporters […] Read more

Manitoba’s Tory leader stole a long-running gag from talk show host David Letterman to press the NDP government to start the spring legislative session. Last week, Stuart Murray counted down his top 10 reasons for the provincial legislature to get back to work, including inadequate education and health funds, need for tax relief, and the […] Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It seems there is little hope this year for canola prices to improve significantly, since another massive soybean crop is waiting in the wings. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts a fifth consecutive record-breaking year for soybean supplies south of the border. But one analyst at the USDA’s annual outlook forum said […] Read more

A dark cloud has passed over the fortunes of dehulled confection-type sunflower seeds. So Canada’s largest sunflower processor expects farmers will also pass over these varieties in favor of long seed varieties for the in-shell market this spring. “Most processors are having a hard time with the dehulled market,” said Mike Durand, grain buyer for […] Read more

The largest delegation at last week’s hearings into the duty on imports of American corn came from B.C.’s Fraser Valley. Dairy and poultry farmers in the valley, where land and feed costs are exorbitant, worry that an increase in feed costs will threaten their businesses. Dairy farmer Ben Brandsema estimated the duty could cost milk […] Read more

At a trade tribunal hearing, you would expect the contentious issues to revolve around trade. But there was more heated debate about the quality of Manitoba-grown corn than there was around complex trade issues during a Canadian International Trade Tribunal hearing. Early into week-long discussions about whether imports of United States corn hurt Manitoba farmers, […] Read more

The Black Velvet distillery in Lethbridge, Alta., would like a red carpet treatment for imports of American corn. Company officials with the distiller have asked the Canadian International Trade Tribunal for an exemption allowing it to import corn from the United States without paying a duty. They said their plant could close if they can’t […] Read more