Roberta Rampton

If the prairie wheat crop suffers this summer, the Canadian Wheat Board will be commended for holding off on sales in 1998-99. But if high quality wheat is plentiful, the board may be in for some criticism as premiums shrink for high quality stocks. A trio of agricultural economists said there’s no way of knowing […] Read more

The Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association says the Canadian Wheat Board is spending too much time campaigning against the Estey report and not enough time selling wheat and barley. Picking up on a recent editorial in the National Post newspaper, the wheat growers hammered the board for its slow sales pace this year. “With farmers […] Read more

Rosann Wowchuk is calling on the Manitoba government to revive a service she says doesn’t cost much but could help farmers get through rough financial times. The farm and rural stress line hung up for the last time several years ago, but the NDP agriculture critic wants the government to reconnect it. It will be […] Read more

The Western Canadian Judging Competition held at Lakeland College’s Vermilion, Alta., campus March 19-20, featured 11 colleges and university teams and 37 4-H teams. Lakeland College’s team of Scott Barr, Erin Krause, Garth Rancier and Susann McGowan won the grand championship judging title, followed by teams from Olds College of Olds, Alta., and the University […] Read more

Rural women have mixed diagnoses about what regionalization has done for health care in Manitoba. Health reform hasn’t been perfect, especially when it comes to women’s health issues, they said. At a recent conference involving women from all parts of the province, some rural women spoke about opportunities and challenges in the new structure of […] Read more

It was a pea-sized lump that forever changed Rita Warrian’s life. And it was the expense involved in getting rid of that lump that prom-pted her to speak about the higher cost of health care for people in rural and northern Manitoba. “I do believe quite strongly that the current system discriminates against rural people,” […] Read more

Canadian Wheat Board exports this year will be at the lowest level since the drought of 1988-89. And Canada’s share of the world wheat market will drop as low as 15.5 percent from a 10-year average of 18.7 percent. But just because market share has dropped doesn’t mean the wheat board is doing a poor […] Read more

Pat Mooney predicts a second round of mergers among major multinationals. After life sciences companies finish joining with each other, they will begin to merge with food and beverage companies, said the executive director of Rural Advancement Foundation International. Farmers will become “bioserfs” of the multinationals, buying seed and inputs from the same company they […] Read more

In what has literally been a trial by fire, Sharon Storm has experienced the best of rural life during the past year. She took over the busy 50-seat Plumas CafŽ, where the same crowd gathered for coffee and home-cooked meals each day. Then, she watched as the cafŽ was destroyed last summer by a fire […] Read more

Lynn Miller’s magazine is somewhat of an anachronism in the field of agricultural publications. The oversized quarterly features photos of teams of workhorses and plows, not high-powered tractors and implements. He reprints how-to articles from the first 25 years of the century rather than features on the latest in global positioning systems. His editorials rail […] Read more