Roberta Rampton

SNOWFLAKE, Man. – Grant Didkowski drives around a bend in a dusty country road, through a bluff of trees and brakes his blue Chevy truck. “Why do we like this area?” he asks a visitor. He lets the vista of “Suicide Hill” answer. Known to generations of Snowflake children as a hair-raising place to toboggan, […] Read more

Wheat and barley price forecasts continue to march steadily downward with little hope for a better outlook. In its latest pool return outlook, the Canadian Wheat Board moved all prices lower. The lower price outlook included the slight strengthening of the Canadian dollar. Particularly hard hit were lower-quality classes of wheat, which dropped $10 to […] Read more

It was hard for Lee Moats to put an upbeat spin on what he heard at a meeting with Canadian Wheat Board officials here last week. “Without trying to seem too negative, depressed,” is what he thought before leaving for home in Riceton, Sask. The secretary-treasurer of the Saskatchewan Winter Cereal Growers Inc. was reacting […] Read more

Teaching farm safety has to be interactive and a little bit fun, according to a 4-H and youth specialist who concentrates on farm and rural safety. “It’s difficult to get the message across if it’s always doom and gloom,” said Leanne Sprung, of Manitoba Agriculture. These days, Sprung said there’s no shortage of good ways […] Read more

Banks may be willing to lend money to fuel the explosion of hog barns in Manitoba. But when it comes to giving money to help find new ways to deal with the deluge of manure coming from those barns, Garland Laliberte found the bank doors closed. “We were disappointed there,” said Laliberte, chair of the […] Read more

A plant built on a farm near Teulon, Man., that uses two kinds of bacteria to treat hog manure has run into a few bugs of its own. Private investors and three government departments have spent almost $200,000 to build the plant, based on technology used in Taiwan. But now, project managers are looking for […] Read more

In a well-worn suit, with a tired Montana drawl, the man at the front of the gym tells a story he has told over and over again for the past 10 years. It’s a story about his travels down a path of destruction, how he saw the light, mended his ways and battled freedom of […] Read more

A Canadian Grain Commission researcher is concerned about low protein levels in what is expected to be the Prairie’s largest durum crop ever. Phil Williams, who conducts the commission’s annual harvest survey, said average protein levels in durum appear to be around 12.4 percent. “We’re not very happy with that,” said Williams. “It’s difficult to […] Read more

Canada is the world’s biggest exporter of peas and lentils, and the pulse industry wants to keep that status. Growers and marketers are hoping new data from the Canadian Grain Commission will help them better understand and market pulses. This year, the grain commission has made peas and lentils a part of its annual harvest […] Read more

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. – Brush was a growing problem for Wade Tanner. About half of the 14,000-acre pasture he managed for Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration at Poplar Point, Man., was covered with poplar and other pesky brush trees. The brush was spreading at the rate of about five percent per year. In 20 years, […] Read more