Tracy Tjaden

When Jennifer Mung grows up, she says she wants to be a farmer. “Farmers know everything,” said the five-year-old Winnipeg girl who spent an afternoon with her daycare visiting the Canola Learning Centre just south of the city. The centre, located at Kelburn Stock Farm outside Winnipeg, is the latest initiative by the Canola Council […] Read more

With 2,200 acres of barley in the field and hot, dry weather on the horizon, Ted Cawkwell swallowed hard when he heard the Canadian Wheat Board’s new initial payment for barley. For No. 1 feed barley, the figure is $95 a tonne, down from $137 one year ago. That works out to about $1 per […] Read more

Descendants of the hunters who once ravaged the Great Plains bison to near extinction are developing a taste for the animal, bringing its numbers back up. Bison is making a comeback as a popular meat alternative on the menus of fine-dining restaurants in cities across Europe and North America. Despite growing at the rate of […] Read more

WINNIPEG – Canada’s cereal research hub in Winnipeg is getting an $18.6 million facelift, said federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief when he toured Manitoba last week. Vanclief made the announcement to a crowd of nearly 100 at the official opening of the Cereal Research Centre’s $2 million plant genetics resources facility at the University of […] Read more

Southwestern Manitoba potato producers say it’s their turn to be under water for a change. Drought-like conditions threaten crops in that part of the province following three weeks with no measurable rain. Rod McLaren’s potato crop is feeling the stress, and even though a new cost-shared government initiative will cover only a third of the […] Read more

PMU ranchers are feeling for steady ground as the industry producing the most commonly prescribed drug in the United States tries to cool down a shaky market. The U.S.-based company that manufactures Premarin from the estrogen in pregnant mares’ urine is cutting production by 10 percent for the third year in a row. Ayerst-Organics in […] Read more

A Canadian-American disaster information system could alert residents of both countries of disasters like the Red River flood and reduce the damage they cause, a water board of the International Joint Commission heard earlier this month. A flood tracking system that spans waterways that cross the international border won’t prevent another flood, but it could […] Read more

Scientists at Agriculture Canada’s Brandon Research Centre hope a new study will uncover ways to reverse rising levels of one of the most common naturally occurring heavy metals found on the Canadian Prairies. Cadmium levels in food have been creeping up in recent years, attracting the attention of research scientists here and raising concerns about […] Read more

If Diane Woodworth goes ahead with her plan to grow and sell medicinal herbs, she’s going to do it organically. In a booming market, people who grow plants that heal will find buyers whether their product is registered organic or not. But for Woodworth, there is no compromise. “It’s a health thing, and I don’t […] Read more

It may be July on the Prairies, but the heat is letting up for doctors in Portage la Prairie after Manitoba’s health minister stepped in to end their week-long emergency room walkout. The community’s ER closed its doors July 18 as doctors protested a new deal that offers physicians in cities like Portage and Brandon […] Read more