Roberta Rampton

A new transgenic flax that shares a name with a fictional carnivorous plant from outer space has taken a bite from seed growers’ wallets and spit out their hopes of selling seed to farmers this spring. But the industry believes if farmers grew CDC Triffid this spring, the crop would have killed exports to Canada’s […] Read more

Fortunately for Western Canada, there are few common elements between the tale of CDC Triffid and the plot of the science fiction classic Day of the Triffids. In the 1951 book, scientists extract a new oil from alien triffid plants until a comet strikes people blind and the triffids start to take over. CDC Triffid, […] Read more

Forty-two farmers who suffered severe losses from flooding last spring in the Red River Valley will receive an average of $8,900 each from a special fund. The Manitoba Farm Flood Relief Fund wrapped up its work last week when it mailed out cheques, said Marcel Hacault. “This money is not coming with any conditions,” said […] Read more

If El Nino continues to stroke Manitoba there’s little chance of flooding this spring. Manitoba Natural Resources based its first flood forecast for 1998 on soil moisture levels, depth of frost, snow accumulation, speed of melting and the amount and timing of spring rain. Snow cover is generally less than half of what it was […] Read more

Warm winter weather has been wonderful for cattle feeders, but woeful for grain farmers with barley in the bin. Mild temperatures have meant great feed conversion rates in southern Alberta feedlots, but have melted feed barley prices since the fall. In the past month, nearby futures prices have slipped $5 to $7 per tonne, said […] Read more

The feed wheat market is in much the same boat as its cousin, feed barley. Demand for feed wheat is slack. But farmers don’t have much left, meaning prices have softened, but haven’t bottomed out. Ian Morrison, market strategist with Alberta Wheat Pool, said farmers in his province have more feed wheat left in their […] Read more

The Coca-Cola of farm chemicals is about to be put to the Pepsi challenge by a rival manufacturer. Cheminova Canada is hoping farmers will apply its Glyfos brand of glyphosate on their fields side-by-side with Monsanto’s Roundup this year. Aside from slight differences in surfactants, marketing manager Jim Beechey said the products are the same. […] Read more

Oat growers have caught a little bit of spring fever. The winter doldrums have hit the market for old-crop oats, so growers are looking at what’s left in their bins and are pinning down prices for the crop they want to plant this spring, say analysts. “For every two tonnes of new crop you’ll see […] Read more

Canadian growers could see a little price spike toward spring if U.S. buyers perceive they’re considering planting fewer oats this year. But whether the oat market budges upwards depends almost totally on the weather this year, says cash grain broker Todd Busby. There’s more than enough oats to meet U.S. processors’ needs right now, said […] Read more

The federal government has approved a $15 a tonne increase to the initial payment for most grades of durum wheat. All grades of durum except No. 5 will receive the payment. The increase reflects the strong world market for durum this year. For grain already delivered, direct deposits will be credited to farmers’ accounts by […] Read more