Tracy Tjaden

SASKATOON – Mycogen Corporation’s canola research division has found a new home in Saskatoon, a move that strengthens Saskatchewan’s position as a centre for agricultural biotechnology. The California-based corporation, which specializes in genetic engineering related to seeds and biopesticides, announced last week its canola research arm will move to Innovation Place at the University of […] Read more

The chief commissioner of the Canadian Wheat Board said he has no long term plans to remain part of the agency. Lorne Hehn said he has told agriculture minister Ralph Good-ale he is willing to stay with the wheat board to help its new management through the changes proposed to its structure and operations. Hehn […] Read more

Rye has an image problem. Producers and consumers see it as an inferior product, there’s no pricing system since the Winnipeg Commodities Exchange dropped it a few years ago and it is one of the last crops to be considered for new research or promotion. But that could change with the creation of a national […] Read more

The healthy choice is rye, suggests new research out of Poland. The dietary fibre in rye bread is four times higher than bread made from wheat flour, according to Polish plant scientist Danuta Boros. “This crop has a great future,” Boros told cereal farmers at a conference during Crop Production Week held in Saskatoon Jan. […] Read more

Alberta farmers counting themselves lucky to be on natural gas instead of propane this winter might have to think again. Utility companies in that province announced last week that the colder than average winter will drive the cost of natural gas up 15 percent. Rising propane prices, up 30 to 60 percent in some regions […] Read more

The Manitoba judge who acquitted Canadian Wheat Board opponent Dave Sawatzky on charges of shipping grain to the U.S. without an export permit interfered with the course of justice, says the crown counsel appealing the case Provincial court judge Arnold Conner made some significant errors during the May trial, prosecutor Clyde Bond said in documents […] Read more

Growing winter cereals is for the birds, Lee Moats might say. The Saskatchewan Winter Cereal Growers director, who also works with Ducks Unlimited Canada, says he has always known waterfowl and winter cereal producers had something in common. Farmers like the crops for the yield, weed competitiveness and time savings and ducks like the residual […] Read more

Juice blends are the leading money makers in today’s beverage industry, and research into exotic prairie berries could help carve local producers a piece of the pie. Buffaloberries, chokecherries and sea buckthorn are among the test subjects in a University of Saskatchewan research project looking into the chemical composition of native Saskatchewan berries. Nick Low, […] Read more

The Canadian Prairies haven’t always been ideal farming country. The dust bowl drought of the 1930s is a better representation of typical prairie weather patterns than what western Canadian farmers have experienced over the past 100 years, a Queen’s University study says. By uncovering weather patterns stretching back 2,000 years, the study shows extreme droughts […] Read more

As most of the western Canadian economy grew in the 1990s, greenhouse gas emissions were not far behind. When energy and environment ministers from across Canada met in Toronto last month to look at ways to deal with climate change, they recognized that current actions are not sufficient to meet Canada’s goal of stabilizing emissions […] Read more