Canadian beef sales have been surprisingly brisk in the post-BSE environment, says the president of the Canada Beef Export Federation. “Our exports over the first five months of this year surprisingly haven’t been suppressed as much as one might assume it to be,” said Ted Haney. A comparison of January-May sales in 2004 to the […] Read more
Sean Pratt
Stories by Sean Pratt
Pea shippers relieved at Indian deal
A temporary resolution to a potentially disastrous trade impasse should recharge pea prices. Canada has negotiated an arrangement with India that allows exporters to ship peas to that market without first fumigating their cargo with methyl bromide. Failure to reach a solution could have seriously damaged pea markets, said Gordon Bacon, chief executive officer of […] Read more
Chaplin pulse plant plucked apart
Saskatchewan may have loads of pulse crop buyers, but it appears to have no pulse plant buyers. Clark Sullivan of Sullivan & Associates Inc. spent the first six months of the year trying to find a new owner for Mainline Pulse Inc., a Chaplin, Sask., processing firm that filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 5. “Unfortunately […] Read more
Canaryseed featured at crop show
Canaryseed has muscled its way onto the 2005 Crop Production Week agenda to be showcased alongside other crops like pulses, flax, canola and mustard. With canaryseed at 750,000 acres in Saskatchewan, industry promoters felt it was time for it to share the limelight at Saskatchewan’s largest annual crop production show, which attracts thousands to Saskatoon […] Read more
Crop lodging widespread
Cereal growers will be wrestling with a forgotten foe as they head into their fields in coming weeks. Extensive crop lodging has been reported across the northern portion of the prairie grain belt, which may result in yield losses and other harvest headaches this fall. “It will seem somewhat new because we haven’t dealt with […] Read more
Native ranchers want into packing business
If all goes well, there could be a new player in the western Canadian beef packing industry within the next 18 months. The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations is teaming up with the city and rural municipality of Swift Current to build a federally inspected plant in the southwestern Saskatchewan community to help address a […] Read more
Niche market breeds new crops
Some of the work going on at western Canadian crop breeding institutions is for the birds. Researchers at Agriculture Canada’s Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation and the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre are attempting to adapt two birdseed crops to prairie growing conditions. Agriculture Canada agronomist Bill May is taking a “look-see” at niger, […] Read more
Organic beef group looks at quality control plan
A group of organic livestock producers is taking the first step toward implementing a quality assurance system that will differentiate their members’ product from conventional beef. The Canadian Organic Livestock Association, or COLA, has received $55,000 in federal government funding to accomplish that goal. The money comes from the Canadian Food Safety and Quality Program, […] Read more
Shoppers, farmers gain in fat wars
Trans fatty acids have been the subject of newspaper headlines for years but as yet have garnered little ink on food packages. That’s about to change. As summer winds down, grocery stores will be stuffed with cookies, potato chips and crackers touting zero grams of trans fats per serving, just in time to meet the […] Read more
U.S. farmers assured subsidy cuts no problem
Reductions in domestic farm subsidies outlined in the new World Trade Organization framework agreement amount to little, according to a high-ranking American agriculture official. J.B. Penn, U.S. undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, told a Reuters reporter last week the 20 percent reduction in agriculture supports agreed to in Geneva, Switzerland, on Aug. 1, […] Read more
