Wheat and barley growers in Manitoba will be asked to support a resolution next week that gives the Manitoba Wheat and Barley Growers Association the authority to collect producer levies that provide financial support to the Western Grains Research Foundation, the Canadian International Grains Institute and the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Centre. Those three organizations […] Read more
News
Manitoba growers to vote on resolution on funding, says MWGBA
Staying afloat
Canadian farmers are accumulating more debt, but their assets are growing at a faster pace, according to Statistics Canada. The value of total farm liabilities was up $5 billion on Dec. 31, 2014, compared to a year earlier. Assets were up $43 billion over the same period. Total assets were $525 billion compared to $78 […] Read more
Ottawa boosts investment in dairy research
Federal agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay announced Feb. 4 that Ottawa is investing an additional $1.75 million in Canada’s dairy research cluster. The investment is aimed at boosting milk production and improving the industry’s knowledge about the health effects of dairy fat. The research is also expected to enable Dairy Farmers of Canada to take better […] Read more
Are seed treatments ending up in water?
Like many others, John Gavloski is troubled by neonicotinoid seed treatments. Some scientists and environmentalists are worried that neonico-tinoids are a threat to bees, but Gavloski, a Manitoba Agriculture entomologist, is more concerned that the insecticides are accumulating in puddles, ponds and larger water bodies near agricultural land. Gavloski told a presentation at Manitoba Ag […] Read more
Students give Alberta ag minister earful on Bill 6
RED DEER — Agriculture groups can wait for weeks or months for an appointment with a government minister. Nine Olds College students had Alberta agriculture minister Oneil Carlier’s ear for an hour during a bear pit session at the Alberta Federation of Agriculture meeting. The group talked about social license, becoming an agriculture promoter, shelter […] Read more
Man. growers warned to be vigilant on clubroot
Certain fields near Edmonton have close to a billion clubroot spores in a gram of soil. In Manitoba, provincial testing shows that many fields have 1,000 to 10,000 spores in a gram of soil. One thousand is nowhere near a billion, but Manitoba producers need to plant canola varieties resistant to clubroot if they want […] Read more
Making 8
In 2004, soybeans were a trivial crop in Western Canada. Acreage was tiny and contained to Manitoba’s Red River Valley. Nowadays, soybeans are the “it” crop in Manitoba and eastern Saskatchewan. Acreage has topped 1.5 million and still growing. The crop science industry is hoping to pull the same trick with grain corn, but producers […] Read more
Celebrity’s anti-meat rant highlights power of social media
If Canadian beef and dairy producers want to know what they’re up against when it comes to public perceptions, a good place to start is jillianharris.com. Jillian Harris, who grew up in Peace River, Alta., became famous when she starred as the bachelorette on the popular TV show, The Bachelorette. She now stars on the […] Read more
Chief of staff appointment raises conflict issues
Alberta Conservative MP Chris Warkentin is calling on the federal agriculture minister and his chief of staff to appear before the House of Commons’ agriculture committee to answer questions about a possible conflict of interest. The committee was named last week and was scheduled to elect a chair at its first meeting Feb. 3. Warkentin, […] Read more
EU facing low rapeseed harvest
HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) — This year’s European Union rape-seed crop is likely to stay around the low level of 2015. Stable harvests are expected in France and Germany but uncertainty remains about crops in Poland and Britain, experts said on Jan. 28. The EU could harvest 22 million tonnes of rapeseed this year, compared to […] Read more
