Roberta Rampton

There’s a bid for 240 tonnes of barley at the spot price of $99 per tonne, f.o.b. Grande Prairie, Alta. Another buyer wants 500 tonnes delivered to Calgary during September or October at $124 per tonne. A third buyer offers to pay $24 under the October barley futures for 200 tonnes, f.o.b. Red Deer, Alta. […] Read more

Some farmers believe the difference between canola futures and cash prices would be more predictable if they could make physical delivery against a futures contract. The board of governors of the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange will take a look at the feasibility of third-party delivery against oilseeds futures contracts at a May 20 meeting. Currently, only […] Read more

The first length of strawboard has yet to roll out of the press at Isobord Enterprises Inc.’s plant at Elie, Man. But company officials are already shopping around for other sites for a second, similar $150 million plant. Isobord’s board of directors won’t decide whether they’ll build another plant until they are certain things are […] Read more

Farmers planting malting barley this spring know that rain can be a blessing and a curse. Unless they get rain at the right time, especially during this dry spring, the chances of barley being selected for malt become slimmer. But a general rain at the right time could also throw a wet blanket on market […] Read more

They basked in the afterglow of what president Paul Tellier called the best two years in CN’s history. And they shone under the banks of spotlights carted in by the professional production company hired to put on the show. Shareholders of CN were treated to a polished accounting of how well the railway treats its […] Read more

Manitoba dairy farmers are out tens of thousands of dollars after an eight-day strike at a major fluid milk processing plant in Winnipeg. The big bill is for extra transportation costs involved in sending the milk that normally goes to the Parmalat Canada (formerly Beatrice) plant to other processors in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Jim Wade, […] Read more

There was an air of excitement at the Manitoba Women’s Institute annual meeting last week. For the first time in at least 15 years, three women ran for president-elect. Added to the election fever was news of a bold, innovative mentorship strategy that members hope will bring a younger generation of women into the WI […] Read more

The durum crop looks gargantuan. Barley: monstrous. And peas and canaryseed seem like two titanic twins headed for an iceberg. Halloween came half a year early to grain markets this week in the guise of Statistics Canada’s seeding intentions survey. The report spooked many in the trade. Analysts say the report paints a very scary […] Read more

Hog operations should consider their neighbors before building a new barn, according to a panel of international production experts. The industry has gained a bad reputation because it has built barns beside people who have moved out of cities to an acreage in the country, said Gary Dial, a veterinarian known for his work on […] Read more

If pigs from a litter were like peas in a pod, raising hogs would be easy. But because they grow to market weight at different rates, it can be difficult to decide when to close an all-in, all-out feeder barn, said John Deen, a swine researcher and veterinarian with North Carolina State University. Deen spoke […] Read more