Exports of western Canadian grain are moving again through the Port of Churchill. The first grain ship of the 2013 shipping season was loaded last week at the northern Manitoba port. The ship, Atlantic Dream, will carry CWB spring wheat destined for Mexico. As of last week, two more grain ships were anchored at Churchill, […] Read more
News
Churchill port shipping season underway
Producer car volumes decline
Thunder Bay terminal | Ocean freight rates forced more grain west
Canada’s top handler of producer cars says the amount of producer car grain it receives at its export terminal in Thunder Bay was down 20 to 25 percent in 2012-13. Nonetheless, Mission Terminal Inc. still sees a bright future in the producer car business, said Derek Drayson, the company’s grain merchant and business development expert. […] Read more
Elite mustard needs marketing to entice buyers
Few brassica carinata users | The crop can be straight combined and production costs are less than canola
INDIAN HEAD, Sask. — Brassica carinata is proving itself in trials and commercial fields, but there still aren’t many buyers of the industrial oilseed. “There’s lots of interest, but not users,” said Ken Mudry of Paterson Grain, which markets the crop for Agrisoma, the company that commercially introduced the Ethiopian mustard a couple of years […] Read more
Local food leaves a sizable footprint too
Transportation efficiency Energy consumption in local production may surprise consumers, says report
Canadian consumers who opt for locally produced food because they think it is more environmentally friendly should think again, says a new study from the Conference Board of Canada. Improved transportation and food supply chain logistics have made long distance transport of fresh and frozen food viable, economical and environmentally sustainable, says the report published […] Read more
Cold July revives frost fears
Are crops at risk? | Long-season crops need some warmer weather before summer ends
It feels like there’s been no summer this year, yet the crops look great in most areas. However, farmers can’t get beyond the fear that frost is lurking underneath the unseasonable coolness, ready to snatch away this year’s bounty. “We need either a real warm finish to the season or a long fall without frost,” […] Read more
Debut of giant ragweed on Prairies possible
MELITA, Man. — Bending over carefully so he wouldn’t drop the microphone, Scott Chalmers reached down to pick up a metre long plant lying on the ground. Chalmers, a diversification specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, held the plant high above his head to show it to the 60 people attending the Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization field […] Read more
Tyson says no to Zilmax feed supplement
Meat processing giant Tyson Fresh Meats will no longer accept cattle fed the supplement Zilmax as of Sept. 6. The United States based company sent a letter to cattle feeding operations earlier this week, stating there have been recent problems where cattle entering processing plants were lame or could not move. It based its decision […] Read more
AG Notes
Holstein Canada Hires Communications co-ordinator Jennifer Kyle is Holstein Canada’s new communications co-ordinator. She had previously been magazine and youth co-ordinator with Ontario Holstein and also spent three years in the marketing department at the Semex Alliance. Kyle, a graduate of Durham College’s public relations program, grew up as an active participant on her family’s […] Read more
High River museum tallies up flood losses
Among the bruised and battered in the flooded town of High River, Alta., is the community’s museum with an extensive collection of western history and artifacts. “We lost about 80 percent of our collection,” said curator Irene Kerr. The Museum of the Highwood is in a 100-year-old building located in the downtown area. It had […] Read more
Nutrients vital when growing soybeans
Invest in fertilizer | Soybeans suck up phosphorus and potash, which need to be replenished
MELITA, Man. — A soil fertility specialist with Manitoba Agriculture says farmers shouldn’t count on soybeans providing nitrogen for next year’s crop. “Soybeans are pigs,” John Heard told the Westman Agricultural Diversification Organization field day July 30. “They make nitrogen but they cart 95 percent of it off to the elevator. So don’t think you’re […] Read more
