TORONTO — It’s tough for a pedigreed seed company to compete with chocolate and cheesecake tasting at a food show. Undaunted, Zeghers Canada of Holland, Man., set up a small booth and laid out its seeds to promote what it could offer those who need these ingredients. Sherry Hird, Zeghers’ representative at the SIAL international […] Read more
News
Carbon tax Down Under went under
This is the final instalment examining the issues surrounding carbon pricing, greenhouse gas emissions and how farmers can do their share without having to pay more than their fair share to do it.
Some Australian farmers saw their costs rise as new taxes shifted money from producers and processors to carbon reduction projects across that continent. However, a change in government put a stop to all that. Half a dozen years ago, a Labour government in Australia brought in an ambitious program that quantified greenhouse gas emissions from […] Read more
Can equipment makers do more to make a greener machine?
Major technological breakthroughs designed to reduce the carbon footprint of diesel engine emissions may not be coming any time soon. “I don’t know of any new technology coming down the pipe,” said Harvey Chorney of the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in Winnipeg. “I think they (equipment manufacturers) have gone as far as they can in […] Read more
Crop report
MANITOBA SOUTHWEST Precipitation varied from three to 20 millimetres along with wind, cooler than normal temperatures and a severe hailstorm. Iron deficiency chlorosis in soybeans and cool, wet weather have made symptoms more severe. Alfalfa weevil damage is widespread and quite severe in some cases. NORTHWEST Rainfall ranged from 12 to 25 mm along with […] Read more
Wheat sharply falls on profit taking Thursday, canola posts seventh gain
Wheat futures were hammered lower by profit taking and ideas that the spring wheat rally had gone too far, too fast. However, canola rallied for the seventh straight session, with November climbing $7.60 to $518.40 per tonne. Soon to expire July was up $6.10 at $573.30. In spring heat, the most traded September contract fell […] Read more
Northern transportation corridor would have ‘revolutionary impact’
The University of Calgary plans to raise money to research the feasibility of a national right-of-way
A Senate committee has endorsed a plan to build a northern transportation corridor that would revitalize the Port of Churchill. The banking, trade and commerce committee has embraced a proposal by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy to build a 7,000 kilometre east-west corridor through Canada’s north. “(It) will have as revolutionary an […] Read moreVaried carbon policies raise competition fears
Alberta has instituted a carbon levy but exempted farm fuel, while Ontario farmers will have to pay additional fuel costs
A $50 per tonne carbon tax will cost the average prairie farmer about $3,700 a year in higher operating expenses, based on an Agriculture Canada document from earlier this year. In comparison, a $50 per tonne levy will cost the average eastern Canadian farmer about $2,400 annually, iPolitics reported in June. iPolitics received the information […] Read moreCanada allows Dow-DuPont merger
OTTAWA (Reuters) — The federal Competition Bureau said June 27 that it would allow a planned merger between DuPont and Dow Chemical Co. after both firms agreed to dispose of some assets. The announcement is similar to those made by U.S. and European Union regulators, who also allowed the merger to go ahead as long […] Read more
Delayed crops good news for Alta. honey producers
BEAVERLODGE, Alta. — Crop progress in Alberta’s Peace River region ranges from canola in full bloom, a result of harvest problems last fall, to crops barely emerged. That maturity range bodes well for honey producers, said BeeMaid Honey chief executive officer Guy Chartier. The longer there are blossoms available, the better it is for honeybees. […] Read more
Soy seed lifts Monsanto profit
(Reuters) — Monsanto Co. posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit last week as record soybean plantings lifted seed sales. Sales of soybean seed and traits, the second-biggest business by revenue, jumped 29.3 percent to US$896 million in the third quarter ended May 31. Net income attributable to Monsanto rose to $843 million, or $1.90 per share, […] Read more
