Small shippers say new railway discounts encouraging the movement of grain in large car blocks is another way of further rationalizing the grain handling business. “It’s the big boys wanting to push their weight around,” said James Woodworth, chair of the Prairie Producer Car Shippers Association. “Between the four biggest grain companies and the two […] Read more
Sean Pratt
Stories by Sean Pratt
Growing crops no longer enough – WP Special Report (story 1)
Qu’Appelle, Sask. – Harvest was a distant memory for most southeastern Saskatchewan farmers on Oct. 21. Not for Gordon Hamblin. He took advantage of the gorgeous fall day to combine the last of his crops – 15 acres of barley. Not that the Qu’Appelle, Sask., farmer was procrastinating this fall. Far from it. Hamblin’s harvest […] Read more
Regs delay cheaper glyphosate
A bulk buyer of farm inputs says it has a line on a cheap supply of glyphosate that could save farmers millions of dollars, but its efforts to import it have been stymied by Canadian authorities. Farmers of North America Inc. wants to exploit a seldom-used importation program to bring an American product called ClearOut, […] Read more
SARM optimistic of education tax reduction
REGINA – A resolution at the 2003 Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention closely resembled one from 1964 calling for education tax reform. It is an issue that has followed the convention for four decades and is now about to go away, said SARM president Neal Har-dy, after listening to a presentation by a government […] Read more
SARM rejects resolution for more APAS funding
REGINA – There is a growing rift between Saskatchewan’s main farm lobby group and the association that spawned it. A resolution at the 2003 Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention called on the SARM board to convince “freeloader” rural municipalities to fund the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan. It met with strong opposition. APAS derives […] Read more
Organic rules still elusive
Earlier this summer, a senior Canadian trade official issued a dire warning to organic growers, processors and certifiers. If they didn’t ratify a national standard before year’s end, they would be on the outside looking in when Europe shuts its doors on countries that haven’t negotiated an equivalency agreement, said Roxan Hoshangi, agricultural affairs officer […] Read more
Monsanto ties future to biotech crops
Monsanto Canada is cutting 10 percent of its workforce as part of a company-wide reorganization. The 39 jobs eliminated at the Canadian subsidiary are part of a broader termination of seven to nine percent of the company’s global workforce, driven in a large part by slumping sales of Roundup herbicide, say industry analysts. “Roundup continues […] Read more
he new agriculture – WP Special Report (about)
Over the past decade or more, value-added processing has become a buzzword in prairie agriculture. Farmers have often bemoaned the fact that they are selling raw agricultural commodities at little or no profit, while food processing companies seem to get the lion’s share of the consumer’s dollar. These days some farmers are attempting to climb […] Read more
The new agriculture – WP Special Report (main story)
Seven years ago Tony Marshall took a trip to Europe that opened his eyes and saved his farm. During a holiday in Germany, he visited a couple of small agriculture operations where producers were cold pressing their own oilseeds and selling the oil locally. Before he left the country, Marshall bought his own mechanical oil […] Read more
Direct selling – WP Special Report (story 2)
For most Canadians the war in Iraq was far removed. For Dean Fraser it hit close to home and came at a high cost. “The war thing was exciting,” said Fraser, co-owner of Prairie Sun Seeds, a Souris, Man., company that exports bagged sunflowers seeds to the Middle East and other regions. Fraser is part […] Read more
