Tracy Tjaden

The shock waves are calming in Arborg following CP Rail’s recent announcement it wants to transfer the 112-kilometre track serving the Manitoba community to a short-line rail company. Questions about the possibility of higher freight rates, declining service and fears that the next step would be complete closure traveled through the community following the April […] Read more

and Reuter News Agency news As if digging their farm out of a late-season blizzard wasn’t enough, Larry and Chris Hamblin are now preparing for the highest flood Manitoba has seen this century. It’s the worst-case scenario for residents of the province’s Red River Valley. “We use the boat in the summer so it’s always […] Read more

Farmers in Manitoba’s Red River Valley are hitting one obstacle after another in their efforts to move grain out of area before what could be Manitoba’s worst flood this century slams the region later this month. A backlog of grain shipments to the West Coast, a record April blizzard that paralyzed the region and a […] Read more

Manitoba hog farmers must embrace change to keep their heads above water as the industry reshapes itself, said an Indiana agricultural economist. “The single biggest opportunity that change is bringing is what many of us have been saying is absolutely awful: My neighbor is getting out of the hog business,” Chris Hurt told delegates to […] Read more

Saskatchewan Wheat Pool created a new company last week that it hopes will feed the growing livestock industry across the Prairies and around the world. Cangro Processors will provide the missing link in Sask Pool’s strategy to expand hog production in Western Canada, said Cangro chief operating officer Les Rankin. Operating as a subsidiary under […] Read more

In the race to claim space on the information highway, farmers are leading the pack, says an Ontario internet consultant. “The trend is on a steep upward slope,” said Helen Aitkin with the Guelph, Ont. firm Agribiz.net, an internet consulting group that specializes in keeping agriculture in the electronic loop. She describes the momentum that’s […] Read more

Francois Catellier is getting tired of hearing how the transportation backlog is slowing down exports of Canada’s major grains and oilseeds. It’s a serious problem, he agrees, but it’s better than the situation for small and medium-sized exporters of Canada’s special crops. For them, the system has ground to a halt. “In the short term […] Read more

On his own, Don Tait says he can’t do much about the hefty 30 percent import tariff Korea slaps on Canadian lentils. So the Elrose, Sask. pulse farmer doesn’t mind paying a portion of his sales to get someone else to do it. Gaining better market access for Canadian pulse crops is at the top […] Read more

BOISSEVAIN, Man. – When Boissevain’s veterinarian of 42 years announced his retirement, mayor Ed Anderson started to worry. Boissevain is prime beef cattle country, hog production is growing and most of the province’s pregnant mare’s urine farms, which collect urine used in estrogen replacement therapy, are located near the southwestern Manitoba town. The retiring veterinarian […] Read more

TOKYO, Japan – The grey dawn of a cloudy Tokyo day is still more than an hour away, but in the roads and aisles of the Tsukiji fish market, the activity is frantic. Frantic appears to be the norm at the world’s largest fish market. Styrofoam boxes brimming with a dizzying array of fish in […] Read more