Rural Liberal MP Wayne Easter headed home to his riding for Parliament’s summer break June 18 bracing for questions about his about-face on scrapping the long gun registry.Included will be complaints from rural constituents opposed to the long gun registry and pressure from Conservatives insisting that when a vote is held in the House of […] Read more
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Gun registry battle to intensify over summer
Farm labour shortage global problem
Finding enough people to work on farms is an international problem that is likely to get worse, says the executive director of the Poultry Industry Council of Ontario.”You are not alone,” Tim Nelson told the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council’s annual meeting in Calgary June 16.Australia, England and the United States also struggle to find […] Read more
CFIA closes Olymel processing plant; samples sent for testing
The Olymel pork processing plant in Red Deer was closed June 21 after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency detected an animal health issue.Test samples were sent to the national laboratory in Winnipeg, with results not expected until June 22, after deadlines for this issue, said Darcy Fitzgerald of Alberta Pork.The CFIA would not identify the […] Read more
Dangerous rust spreads to S. Africa
A deadly wheat pathogen continues to mutate and expand its sphere of influence but at a slower pace than scientists first expected.Ug99, a virulent strain of stem rust first discovered in Uganda in 1999, has shown up in South Africa, pushing the disease almost as far into the southern hemisphere as it has reached in […] Read more
U.S. camelina research centre benefits Canada
North America’s largest camelina research program is getting bigger.Sustainable Oils officially opened its new research facility in Bozeman, Montana, last week to produce new varieties for growers in the United States and Canada.The breeding centre doubles the company’s laboratory and office space and adds a seed processing lab where researchers can analyze seeds for oil […] Read more
Long row to pull
Fields unseeded Fields in southern Alberta are wet. Seeding is about 90 percent done and additional seeding is unlikely. Unseeded acres will be highest around Cardston, Pincher Creek and south of Lethbridge. Areas south of Highway 1 received extensive rain last week. Some areas around Medicine Hat and the Cypress Hills received nearly 150 mm […] Read more
WTO talks buried
A former Liberal trade minister who oversaw the successful 1993 conclusion of a world trade negotiation said the current World Trade Organization negotiation is essentially dead.Roy MacLaren, trade minister from 1993 to 1996 and now chair of a Canada-European business lobby, was explaining to MPs on the House of Commons international trade committee why the […] Read more
Letters to the editor – for Jun. 24, 2010
Farm worker dangers June 18 will mark four years since the needless death of beloved husband, father and farm worker Kevan Chandler at a High River feedlot.Since that fateful Father’s Day, no changes have been made to prevent this tragedy from happening to another Alberta farm worker.If Kevan worked in any other dangerous industry in […] Read more
Unseeded acres leave many producers in marketing bind
Thousands of farmers are stuck in a marketing quagmire, trying to get out of old contracts and into new sales plans.But with many prairie farmers not knowing how much crop they are likely to have three months from now, replacing defunct marketing plans is vexing.“Every individual situation is different,” said Derek Squair, president of Agri-Trend […] Read more
Struggle for checkoff uses loyalty rewards
EDMONTON – Alberta Beef Producers is launching a loyalty rewards program in an effort to dissuade cattle producers from requesting a check-off refund.The provincial government changed commodity group checkoffs to refundable from mandatory earlier this year, raising fears about revenue shortfalls.ABP general manager Rich Smith told the group’s recent semi-annual meeting that a loyalty rewards […] Read more
