Roberta Rampton

There is more to the definition of “harm” than is in Canadian seed laws, says the group that recommends canola varieties for registration. After some heated discussion, the canola and rapeseed recommending committee voted last week to ask the federal government to change the Canada Seeds Act. The law states a cultivar cannot be registered […] Read more

Dale Burns is crossing his fingers for sclerotinia. The plant breeder with Zeneca Seeds has been looking for the disease for the past couple of years to test a new type of canola. But of course, when he wanted to see sclerotinia, he saw very little. Last week, Burns got the go-ahead to do three […] Read more

Canola breeders will work harder at bringing down saturated fatty acid levels in Argentine varieties. The canola and rapeseed recommending committee has decided to gradually lower its tolerance for these fatty acids in new cultivars. The committee is responding to worries in the industry that canola fatty acid levels were rising, damaging its market advantage […] Read more

Recently we ran a page of calving tips. Two readers sent in suggestions that arrived too late to include in that package so we’ll run them now, along with a tip from our Animal Health columnist, veterinarian Jeff Grognet. Fanny pack Lisa Holte of Hughenden, Alta., writes: “When my husband is checking calves on his […] Read more

Fusarium head blight is on the increase in Manitoba and southeastern Saskatchewan. Warm weather and moisture during and after flowering favors the fungal development. It causes reductions in crop yield and quality and possible accumulations of mycotoxins. No registered varieties of wheat or barley are resistant to the disease, but breeders are working on the […] Read more

Honey producers may get tougher food labeling regulations to protect their product on store shelves. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency wants to design regulations that wouldn’t allow food products to use the word “honey” in their names unless they actually use honey. Presently it is illegal to call something “honey” unless it is 100 percent […] Read more

He listened to exporters, maltsters, brewers and scientists wring their hands over the future of Canada’s second-largest crop. Then, Joe Homenuk took the microphone and spit out the bottom line. “As a farmer, we sort of end up at the bottom of the scale, economically,” said Homenuk, from Hudson Bay, Sask. He questioned why farmers […] Read more

United Grain Growers thinks more new farmers will join its stable base of growers to plant linola this spring. Linola is a proprietary type of solin, an edible-oil flax. “Producers are just looking for an alternative,” said Brad Fowler, UGG’s product line manager for special crops. Last year, farmers planted about 230,000 acres of linola […] Read more

A high-protein parent and two high-tech tools have pushed a promising new line of Canada prairie spring wheat into its third year of co-op field tests. Wheat breeder Gavin Hum-phreys hopes a line known as HY639 will eventually become a variety in farmers’ fields. The CPS line has so far, on average, tested 1.5 percent […] Read more

At the 11th hour before he met his counterparts in Victoria, B.C., to discuss the national farm aid program, Manitoba’s agriculture minister announced his province will participate. Harry Enns told reporters he has serious reservations about the program, which could add up to a $62 million tab for his government. He doesn’t know how effective […] Read more