Roberta Rampton

WINNIPEG – Kevyn Nightingale looked like a cow on the wrong side of the pasture fence. Clad in a navy suit, the young Torontonian struck up a conversation about the Canadian Wheat Board outside the Progressive Conservative party’s national convention in downtown Winnipeg last week. “I don’t know much about agriculture policy,” he admitted, chowing […] Read more

WINNIPEG – The Manitoba government wants to make sustainable development a way of life in the province. Environment minister Glen Cummings has drafted an act to ensure the health of the environment, economy and people are all considered when government decisions are made. He wants comments from Manitobans before he introduces it in the legislature. […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Andy McMechan could lose his farm as a result of a new and stiffer sentence for shipping grain illegally to the United States. The Lyleton, Man. farmer was convicted in March of shipping grain without a Canadian Wheat Board licence. He was originally fined $2,000 and ordered to pay more than $55,000 to […] Read more

CARMAN, Man. – With the help of some old genes, an ancient warm season crop could become the feed grain of the future for prairie farmers. Bob Hamilton hopes by 2000, corn will be competitive with barley in the West. Hamilton, a corn breeder with Agriculture Canada, has been working for a decade on a […] Read more

WINNIPEG – The NDP agriculture critic is calling for rural Manitobans to pick up their phone and dial the health minister. Rosann Wowchuk said she thinks Jim McCrae might find the money needed to run the Farm and Rural Stress Line if he heard from enough rural residents. The line stopped operating last week because […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Japanese canola buyers got the cold, hard facts July 24 about Canadian canola supply for the upcoming year. And as they returned home from an annual visit with members of the Canola Council of Canada, some in the trade believe they may warm up to buying more canola in advance than usual. George […] Read more

WINNIPEG – While sun bathers may have been looking for warmer weather the past couple of weeks, the fungus that causes stem rot on canola has been basking in the cool, moist conditions. The same weather has sent farmers to their fields in droves to spray for sclerotinia, according to provincial agriculture departments. “An awful […] Read more

ROBLIN, Man. – Brian Wilson squats, sighs and searches for signs of life in a row spotted with sow thistles. “This is probably cumin without a nurse crop,” he said, peering closely at the ground before finding a tiny sprout poking through the soil. “There’s one!” Cumin is one of about 20 different demonstration crops […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Manitoba’s farm and rural stress line has hung up, maybe for good this time. Last week, the service let go of its staff and stopped operations because it ran out of money. “I just feel really sad,” said Bill Martin, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association in the province. The line’s […] Read more

BRANDON, Man. – He was known as both a miser and a philanthropist, his building defined Brandon’s skyline, and he reported for work at 8 a.m. sharp each day until he was 94 years old. Nancy McLennan says there is a lot of mystery surrounding Albert Edward McKenzie, who ran the seed company bearing his […] Read more