Alberta Agriculture’s Crop Protection 2011,also known as the Blue Book,is available for landowners dealing with invasive plants. Alberta’s Weed Control Act organizes weed lists into two designations: prohibited noxious and noxious. It lists 46 prohibited noxious weeds and 29 noxious weeds. Prohibited noxious weeds are species with detrimental effects in other provinces or states that […] Read more
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Weed control
CWB says legal challenge possible
The Canadian Wheat Board may turn to the courts to preserve its single desk marketing system, said board chair Allen Oberg. “We will certainly have a look at all legal options,” he said. “We poll farmers from time to time and one thing most agree on most is that the decision on what happens to […] Read more
Viterra opens Quebec office
Viterra has opened new a merchandising office in Montreal, strengthening its presence in Eastern Canada. The office, which opened May 2, will increase the company’s ability to market food ingredients in Canada, the United States and Europe. “Our office in Montreal will play a central role in managing trade flows, freight activities and arbitrage opportunities, […] Read more
Some pastures hit with drought, others in water
This spring is turning into a cruel, cold season: too much moisture in some regions and heartbreaking drought in others. Grazing land has turned to dust in northern and interior regions of British Columbia and marshland in the Interlake region of Manitoba. Much of Alberta has received excessive moisture, but the Peace River district has […] Read more
Ranchers suffer calving losses in southern spring squall
Tom Grieve could hear a calf bawling, but the only thing he could see was snow. A storm that walloped southeastern Saskatchewan the weekend of April 30-May 1 had piled the snow as high as the two-bale windbreak he had made and about 15 metres out from it. The Fillmore area farmer already knew he […] Read more
Marketing canola through CWB nixed
The Manitoba Canola Producers Association has shelved plans to voluntarily market canola through the Canadian Wheat Board. In April, the association placed ads in farm newspapers to gauge interest in the concept of selling canola in a pool through the wheat board. However, the ads and related media coverage didn’t generate sufficient interest in the […] Read more
Auction cattle ID viable, costly
A pilot project to test the feasibility of cattle traceability systems in Alberta auction markets has found that electronic identification technology is viable but could cost millions to implement. “One of the objectives was to look at the costs related to implementing a workable system in the market,” said Rick Frederickson of Alberta Agriculture’s traceability […] Read more
Sunny days on wish list in northeastern Sask.
Producers who were drowned out in northeastern Saskatchewan last year are entering 2011 with a renewed sense of optimism, says Wes Black, who farms near Somme. Black and his neighbours received 1,000 millimetres of rain last year, and most farmers in the area seeded only one-third to one-half of their normal acreage. But to their […] Read more
Oat producers combat bad reputation in U.S.
When prairie oat growers first started investigating their loss of the U.S. horse feed market, they thought there was a simple explanation: cost. After 18 months of research, they have discovered the collapse is mainly due to a more profound problem: myth. As a result, the Prairie Oat Growers Association has launched a web campaign […] Read more
Plastic made from potatoes?
Earl McLaren and his colleagues at Manitoba Starch Products travelled to Europe several years ago for two weeks of meetings. The Carberry, Man., company manufactures and sells potato starch as a food ingredient and it wanted to meet Europeans in the same industry. After many conversations about potential uses for potato starch, McLaren and his […] Read more
