Roberta Rampton

What’s more complex, a wheat field or the farmer who planted it? To someone who studies the genetics of cells, the farmer would be far simpler to work with. The genetic material of wheat is more than five times as large as that of humans. The map of the genes that make a living thing […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Neil Van Ryssel spent 26 days in the last fiscal year helping negotiate a new pooling arrangement for Canadian dairy farmers. “The frustration levels and the speed that those pooling negotiations went forward with taxed the patience of Job,” sighed Van Ryssel, chair of the Manitoba Milk Producers. Speaking at the marketing board’s […] Read more

WINNIPEG – When Henri Lambert finally found out how he was doing, he was on top. The St. Claude, Man. chicken producer won the trophy for the most efficient operation at Hog and Poultry Days, held recently in Winnipeg. “I didn’t know if I was doing a job,” Lambert said. “I asked my feed representative, […] Read more

WINNIPEG – After mountains of paper, weeks of testimony, days of arguments and millions of dollars, a constitutional challenge of the Canadian Wheat Board Act ended Dec. 13. All that’s left is the ruling on the case from Federal Court of Canada judge Francis Muldoon, who said he’ll deliver it “in due course” in the […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Neither side in the constitutional challenge of the Canadian Wheat Board has impressed the judge so far. As final arguments began in a Winnipeg courtroom this week, Federal Court of Canada Justice Francis Muldoon told lawyers representing the plaintiffs that he wants them to indicate exactly which constitutional rights the farmers are trying […] Read more

WINNIPEG – In Garvin Hanley’s mind, the only good thing about the early snow this year is that more farmers will grow flax next year. The chair of the Flax Council of Canada said he heard during Western Canadian Agribition from many people how easy it is to get flax off snowy fields, especially compared […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Manitoba’s largest potato processor wants to use a commercial freight company to truck all spuds from storage to the plant. But a spokesperson for the 130 provincial farms that contract with potato processors says there’s some resistance to the idea. Garry Sloik, a grower and secretary-manager of Keystone Vegetable Producers’ Association, said farmers […] Read more

WINNIPEG – When Daria Makota looks at a financial statement, she doesn’t see a boring set of numbers. The certified general accountant, who specializes in teaching farmers accounting, sees a story. And like Aesop’s fables or a Biblical parable, she believes farmers can learn important lessons by understanding the statements. “It’s really necessary,” said Makota, […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Manitoba’s rural councillors got a busy signal from the premier when they asked for a referendum on the sale of the province’s phone system. At their annual meeting last week, delegates to the Union of Manitoba Municipalities narrowly passed a resolution calling for the government to hold a referendum before it privatizes Manitoba […] Read more

Two commodity exchanges on opposite sides of the border are taking the unusual step of working together on a futures contract. Last week, the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange and Minneapolis Grain Exchange announced they’ll look at the feasibility of a contract for North American durum wheat. “We’re both small exchanges and I think together we can […] Read more