Two Manitoba towns want to draw people in and teach them about the importance of agriculture. A Neepawa group has offered to buy 75 acres west of town on the Yellowhead Highway for the Great Plains Interpretive Centre. And a Carman committee just hired consulting firm KPMG to spend four to six months examining the […] Read more
Stories by Roberta Rampton
Sugar beet growers seek compensation for doomed industry
For the first time in 57 years, Manitoba farmers won’t be planting sugar beets. Rogers Sugar Ltd. shut down the industry in the province when it announced in January it will close its Winnipeg plant. But the ever-tenacious Manitoba Sugar Beet Producers’ Association is trying to seed some ideas in the minds of federal politicians. […] Read more
Wild oats wear herbicide suit of armor in Manitoba
A new weed is taking root in Manitoba, posing a triple threat to producers who find it on their farms. Last fall, researchers pulled eight samples of wild oats resistant to herbicides from Groups 1, 2 and 25 from fields in the northwest region. “I think it’s very, very serious for the producers who are […] Read more
Paterson joins Manitoba building spree
Another grain company has announced it will add to the list of inland terminals going up in southwestern Manitoba. N.M. Paterson and Sons Ltd. will build a 10,886-tonne concrete terminal at Killarney, Man. by early 1999. The company joins ConAgra, which is building a 27,200 tonne terminal in the Brandon-Souris area, and Saskatchewan Wheat Pool’s […] Read more
Australia woos canola buyers
The Cinderella crop of Australia has been attracting more and more attention from Japan, the Prince Charming of canola customers. Japan is looking at Australian canola as an alternative to the tight supplies available in Canada. Australian farmers are planting a record crop of almost 1.4 million acres this year and expect to harvest about […] Read more
Manitoba rail line sits in local hands
For 10 years, a group of people in southwestern Manitoba have talked about one day owning the rail that connects Waskada and Goodlands to the main line at Deloraine. And now Turtle West Rail is inching its way through the red tape at the finish line. The short line is named after the nearby Turtle […] Read more
Red River flood waters slow to reveal damage
More than two weeks after flood waters peaked, the Red River Valley was still looking at almost as much water as it had in the last big flood of 1979. Thousands of people are still out of their homes as they wait for roads to re-emerge and water to drain. High winds have blown away […] Read more
Other flood victims feel slighted
More than 300 farmers in other parts of Manitoba say they understand only too well how their counterparts in the Red River Valley are feeling this spring. In the Assiniboine River Valley and around several lakes, they’ve battled the tide of tight financial times after flood waters covered the land they rely on for income. […] Read more
ConAgra’s first move into Manitoba tightens competition
International agricultural giant ConAgra is taking its first step into Manitoba, and wants to leave a big footprint. Last week, the company’s Canadian division announced it will spend $10 million on an inland grain terminal in the Brandon-Souris area. The company is in the final stages of choosing between several sites. The president of the […] Read more
Manitoba easy sell for grass production preachers
A prominent Alberta hay exporter, Transfeeder Inc., is finding Manitoba to be a good potential supply source. The company has already announced plans for a $1.5 million hay densification plant called Sunridge Forages on the western side of the province in Russell, Man. Transfeeder says it ships 75 percent of all Canadian forage exports, most […] Read more
