Roberta Rampton

An Ontario-based company is first out of the gate in the great prairie pig scramble. As farmers, feed companies and investors race to build barns and fatten pig production, J.M. Schneider Inc. opened the first half of a new $50 million processing plant to take in some of the new hogs. Vice-president Eric Schneider was […] Read more

Manitoba’s environment department is thinking about putting a freeze on the steaming, tell-tale brown tracks of winter manure spreading. In January, the department started to review the province’s three-year-old livestock waste regulations because of increasing numbers of complaints about manure, and problems it has had enforcing the regulations. Dennis Brown, who is leading the review, […] Read more

June’s hot, dry weather that followed the wet spring from hell allowed farmers in Manitoba’s Red River Valley to plant most of their fields by crop insurance deadlines. “It’s not very often you get a solid month where you can seed every day,” said crop insurance spokesperson Brian Halstead. “It’s basically 99 percent seeded,” he […] Read more

Farmers may soon be watching energy prices as closely as they watch commodity prices. Researchers say growing forages for electricity, fuel and chemicals will one day be as important as growing them for cattle. About 50 researchers from around the world met in Winnipeg to find out more about the potential of bioenergy crops. It […] Read more

The Manitoba government won’t participate in a proposed $10 to $11 million aid package for flooded farmers in the Red River Valley. Instead, agriculture minister Harry Enns will extend crop insurance deadlines, making more farmers eligible for the safety net. “Farmers, in the final analysis, don’t want a government handout of $40 or $60 per […] Read more

After watching their wheat endure rain, snow, mice, deer, mould, and some more rain, some farmers who couldn’t get the crop off last fall are now watching it sit in their bins. Options for selling spring-harvested wheat are dwindling, especially for farmers with the poorest quality crops. Farmers had until June 6 to sign contracts […] Read more

A group that wants to help rural Manitoba change with the times has announced how it will give out about $4 million to help spur new projects. The Manitoba Rural Adaptation Council is handing out applications for the funding to individuals, groups, associations, communities and companies. The council will fund one-third of the total cost […] Read more

Hog farmers will soon be able to see, smell and touch different manure handling techniques in action on several farms across Western Canada. The federal government’s Western Economic Diversification is giving $495,000 to Canadian Environmental Technology Advancement Corporation-West to help match hog farmers who want to try new methods with companies developing the technology. Don […] Read more

ROSENORT, Man. – Like some kind of wretched garage sale, the contents of Paul and Luella Friesen’s home are spread out across their yard. But they haven’t set out their well-used, outdated and unwanted items for bargain hunters to root through. Everything is on the lawn. Major appliances join stacks of kids’ puzzles. Books lie […] Read more

Vegetable growers in Alberta have until the end of the year to root out solutions for their levy-funded organization. Growers have been fighting for a few years about how the Alberta Fresh Vegetable Producers board should operate. Now, the Commercial Vegetable Producers of Alberta, an informal group of 10 to 15 producers, has gone public […] Read more