Roberta Rampton

The slowest exports of wheat and flour in 24 years is hitting Saskatchewan Wheat Pool’s balance sheet, but the company’s investment in agricultural processing is partly offsetting the pain. The pool’s second-quarter report for the three months ending Jan. 31 shows a net loss of $700,000, or two cents a share, after a special after-tax […] Read more

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool’s second-quarter results were not a surprise to some equity analysts who watch the company. The whole grain handling industry has been hit hard by reduced world demand for grain. Canadian Wheat Board shipments are forecast to be 15.5 million tonnes this year, an amount not seen since 1988-89. “With grain exports down […] Read more

MORDEN, Man. – An enterprising feed plant could net $10 per tonne producing pea-canola meal, an energy- and lysine-rich hog feed once thought to be too dear for the cheap Manitoba feed market. The new analysis is found in a study funded by Manitoba pulse and canola farmer organizations and conducted by Golden Meadow International […] Read more

As Manitoba’s livestock industry grows, so does the number of dead animals and their byproducts from slaughter plants. Last week, Canada’s largest rendering company announced it will expand its Winnipeg plant. Rothsay will spend $9 million on its rendering plant in the province to increase capacity by more than half, hire nine new employees and […] Read more

MORDEN, Man. – Driving southwest of Winnipeg into the highly productive “golden triangle” of farm land, Rob Templeman was impressed. “All I could think of was, ‘holy smokes’, ” said Templeman, a soil and crop specialist with the Ontario government. Last week, he got his first look at the land and met a number of […] Read more

Changes in European Community agriculture policy drafted last week are a step in the right direction, but it is a small stride on a long trip, says a Canadian Wheat Board analyst. Peter Watts said although the cuts to the Common Agriculture Policy’s support prices were highly controversial in Europe, they do not remove the […] Read more

Canadian fruit and vegetable growers had a lot on their plate when they met last week in Winnipeg. The Canadian Horticultural Council discussed ways to deal with tough new United States pesticide laws, new food safety requirements, and gaps in safety nets. Outgoing president Dave Jeffries, a vegetable grower from Portage la Prairie, Man., said […] Read more

He stood at the foot of the amphitheatre, packed full with a well-heeled, politically connected crowd, and laid it out straight. If nutraceuticals are to make a difference to the bottom line of Manitoba farmers, said Don Dewar, researchers have to find a product unique to the province with unlimited worldwide demand. Adding value to […] Read more

This fall a team of researchers will move into a refurbished laboratory at the University of Manitoba where federal scientists first developed rust-resistant wheat in the late 1940s. But these researchers will be using the newest tools of biotechnology to make sometimes-controversial genetic changes to wheat, canola, flax and potatoes. And they won’t be on […] Read more

Larry Taylor is proud of his Manitoba roots. He graduated from the University of Manitoba’s agriculture faculty in 1977. A photograph of his great-great-grandfather John Taylor, agriculture minister in 1879, hangs in the office of today’s minister Harry Enns. So he’s pleased Monsanto, the company he works for, has brokered a deal to conduct research […] Read more