An Australian chickpea specialist doesn’t expect much of a crop from the country down under in the coming year because of disease pressure. “We had so much ascochyta in 2003 that the inoculant will be everywhere,” said Kevin Moore, who works with the department of agriculture in the state of New South Wales. “I wouldn’t […] Read more
Sean Pratt
Stories by Sean Pratt
Pulse checkoff given glowing report card
An agricultural economist crunched the numbers and can now statistically validate what Saskatchewan Pulse Growers has been telling its members for years; that they are getting good bang for their buck from the pulse checkoff. Richard Gray told the 952 producers gathered at Pulse Days 2004 that every levy dollar they pay between 1984 and […] Read more
Pulses have huge upside: expert
Two decades ago, liver was the only food item American consumers despised more than soy, says food scientist Lisa Campbell. Today, thanks to scientific evidence about soy’s nutritional benefits, the soyfood industry has gone mainstream, growing at a rate of 22 percent a year. It is outpacing mature food categories tenfold. Estimates have American consumers […] Read more
BASF brings focus to tolerant lentils
In what is being billed as a “global first,” BASF Canada has announced its intention to develop a herbicide tolerant crop for Canadian lentil growers. Clearfield lentils will be created and commercialized in partnership with the University of Saskatchewan’s Crop Development Centre and Saskatchewan Pulse Growers. Breeder seed of the crop, which is being developed […] Read more
Popular low-carb diet bad news for potatoes
Slumping demand brought on by a diet craze has spoiled the market for a good potato crop. “You could watch potato sales decline if you put a finger on the calendar indicating the day that the study came out validating the Atkins diet. Atkins has had a huge impact,” said Manitoba Agriculture potato specialist Bill […] Read more
Hog investors threaten lawsuit
A group of Saskatchewan investors is planning legal action against an Alberta hog barn promoter. About 75 farmers and businesspeople in the Portreeve, Sask., area allege they lost $430,000 to a company called Pure Lean Hogs (Portreeve) Inc. The money was raised in 2001 to explore the feasibility of building a 600-sow hog barn in […] Read more
Farm prices nosedive
Farmers didn’t receive nearly as much for the agricultural goods they sold last fall compared to prices they received a year earlier. According to Statistics Canada, commodity prices decreased by 13.5 percent between October 2002 and October 2003, driven in large part by an 18.7 percent drop in the crop price index. Statistician Gail-Ann Breese […] Read more
Growers to hear protection plan
Jim Wood wants to know how a proposed new producer-funded protection program will prevent him from losing $54,000 again. “I’ll be up there (in Saskatoon) and it will be really interesting to see what the gory details are on that program because I don’t consider myself protected at all by the (Canadian) Grain Commission,” said […] Read more
BSE impact on feed grains unknown
Analysts say the impact of a new BSE case on grain markets could range from minimal to monstrous. So far the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in an American dairy cow has had little effect on grain and oilseed prices. Chicago Board of Trade nearby corn futures fell 20 cents US a bushel the first […] Read more
Grower support key to pulse fund
A consultant hired by pulse grower groups has recommended a move away from the Canadian Grain Commission’s licensing and bonding system toward a farmer-funded producer protection system similar to that in Ontario. The same firm found considerable faults with that very model in a similar study it did on behalf of the grain commission two […] Read more
