SYDNEY (Reuters) — Australia has trimmed its wheat crop forecast for this year by more than three percent after dry weather across key growing states. However, output from the world’s second largest exporter is still expected to be its sixth largest on record. The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences pegged wheat […] Read more
News
Australia expects bumper wheat crop
Coalition pencils out plan to take over tree nursery
Federal facility slashed | Group wants short-term lease and transition funding to continue the shelter belt program
There is still a glimmer of hope that a federally owned tree nursery at Indian Head, Sask., can be saved from the cost-cutter’s axe. Norm Hall, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said a recently completed business report suggests the Agroforestry Development Centre (ADC) can be saved and maintained as a viable, for-profit […] Read moreCommission reaching outto producers
Brian Kennedy says he is eagerly awaiting harvest completion so he can go out and meet more wheat farmers. Kennedy, the new grower relations co-ordinator for the Alberta Wheat Commission, knows many farmers can’t spare time for policy talk at this time of year. “I don’t want to be a pestilence upon growers at the […] Read more
Dubious processing ledto meat seizure: expert
Meat improperly dried, stored | University of Manitoba food processing expert says farm didn’t have necessary equipment to meet safety requirements
A nationally recognized food safety expert says the Manitoba agriculture department was right to seize cured meats from a small, on-farm food producer in late August. He said the food probably contained deadly bacteria. “I don’t have a problem with the regulatory action that was taken,” Rick Holley, a University of Manitoba food processing and […] Read moreAG Notes
Nominations open for pulse growers board Saskatchewan Pulse Growers is now accepting nominations to fill five open positions on the 2014 board of directors. Only registered producers are eligible, which means they have sold a Saskatchewan-grown pulse crop and paid a checkoff within the last two years. Board members are responsible for supervising the management […] Read more
World in brief
Alberta politics New deputy ag minister has law background Jason Krips will replace John Knapp as Alberta’s deputy minister of agriculture, effective Sept. 30. Krips is not an unfamiliar face to agriculture in Alberta. He was executive assistant to then agriculture minister Doug Horner from 2004-06 and was Horner’s executive assistant in the advanced education […] Read more
Crop report
Manitoba Favourable weather conditions are helping harvest operations. The winter wheat harvest is wrapping up and growers are now seeding the crop, while progress continues on spring wheat, barley, oat and canola crops. Yields are average to above average with good quality. Soybean and corn crops require a few more weeks to reach maturity. Southwest […] Read more
Conagra warns on profit as frozen foods, pasta sales fall
(Reuters) — ConAgra Foods Inc. forecast current-quarter profit well below estimates, hurt by a drop in sales of brands such as Marie Callender’s frozen meals and Chef Boyardee pastas. Shares of the company, which also posted lower-than-expected first-quarter results, fell as much as six percent in morning trading on Thursday. The company’s products compete in […] Read more
Sask. harvest ahead of average
More than half of Saskatchewan’s crop is in the bin, according to the weekly provincial crop report. That’s ahead of the five-year average. Crop reporters estimated that, as of Sept. 16, 55 percent had been harvested. Another 30 percent was ready to swath or straight cut. Rain Wednesday and Thursday put a halt to operations […] Read more
Belarus suggests extraditing Uralkali CEO to Russia to end potash row
MINSK (Reuters) — Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday raised the possibility of Belarus extraditing the imprisoned head of Russia’s Uralkali, a sign a potash trade dispute between the two countries may be nearing resolution. Vladislav Baumgertner, chief executive of the world’s top potash producer, was detained on Aug. 26 while visiting the Belarussian capital, […] Read more
