SAN ANTONIO, Texas – It is hard for a Canadian farmer to know where to point the finger when it comes to assessing blame for trade-distorting agricultural subsidies. The United States maintains that the Europeans have by far the richest package of supports. Yet many Canadian farmers have first-hand experience competing with American products shielded […] Read more
Sean Pratt
Stories by Sean Pratt
Expect leaner farm bill, says U.S. policy expert
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Jim Wiesemeyer’s presentation to delegates attending the North American Grain Congress was titled What do You Get When You Mix Budget Deficits, Trade Policy and a New Farm Bill? His answer: “You get change.” Hearings on the new U.S. farm bill got under way last week and Wiesemeyer, an agriculture trade […] Read more
U.S. growers back GM wheat variety
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – American wheat farmers have a new reason to remember the Alamo. In a hotel meeting room next door to the shrine commemorating Texas liberty, they took a stand that some growers feel could be a defining moment for the wheat industry, just as the Alamo is considered by many Americans to […] Read more
AWB’s fate is sealed, says U.S. wheat group
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – An American wheat group is confident that damning evidence stemming from recent investigations into the Iraqi oil-for-food program will fuel the worldwide demise of state trading enterprises. An inquiry conducted by the United Nations has shown that AWB Ltd., Australia’s monopoly wheat exporting agency, made bogus transportation payments through the UN’s […] Read more
U.S. Wheat Associates opposed to food aid changes
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – American wheat groups are determined to keep the food in food aid. U.S. policy has come under attack at the World Trade Organization where the European Union, Canada and Australia are lobbying for changes to the way the country delivers humanitarian relief. They want the United States to give cash instead […] Read more
U.S. wants in on hard white wheat
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – On Super Bowl weekend in the most football-crazed state in the United States, a group of American farmers found themselves cooped up in a meeting room talking about hard white wheat. And they found out they were getting their butts kicked all over the field by Canada in the international arena. […] Read more
U.S. wheat industry set to tout quality
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A priority of the U.S. wheat industry is to find ways to counter customer perceptions that Canada and Australia produce a better quality product. It is one of five critical marketing issues identified by U.S. Wheat Associates, the market development arm of the wheat industry, in its strategic plan. Mark Hodges, […] Read more
Clearfield wheat enters second year
This spring will mark the second year of commercial planting of Clearfield wheat in Canada and so far the crop has avoided the beehive of controversy stirred up by another type of herbicide tolerant wheat. BASF’s new product has not generated the negative backlash that Monsanto’s Roundup Ready wheat caused, but a few nervous rumblings […] Read more
U.S. promises tempt Iogen
One sentence uttered by the president of the United States has given that country a leg up in wooing a $300 million US ethanol project away from Western Canada. In his Jan. 31 state of the union address, George Bush outlined how the country plans to replace more than 75 percent of its Middle East […] Read more
Chickpeas brightest star in pulse crop universe
Agriculture Canada anticipates chickpeas will be the one pulse crop that generates decent returns in 2006-07. The department has prepared a series of crop budgets for the coming year. One shows that large kabuli chickpea growers in Saskatchewan’s brown soil zone can expect a $90 per acre net return after covering their variable costs. “Canadian […] Read more
