Brucellosis is suspected in three cull beef cows from two British Columbia farms after they reacted to tests during routine slaughter testing in the United States.The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has launched an investigation into how the cows could have contracted the disease eliminated from Canada 21 years ago.“We’ve worked hard to eradicate it from […] Read more
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Brucellosis could be making return
Alliance expands pulse plant
Alliance Grain Traders is investing $1.5 million in its pulse processing plant at Wilkie, Sask.The investment will double the green lentil processing of the plant that Alliance bought from Finora Inc. at the end of 2009 and will add three optical colour sorting lines.“It becomes one of the premier green lentil processing plants in the […] Read more
Ag Notes – for Jun. 3, 2010
Dam anniversary The Boundary Dam Power Station is celebrating its 50th anniversary.The dam, operated by SaskPower, can generate 824 megawatts of electricity from six units, which represents more than 20 percent of SaskPower’s generating capacity. It employs about 300 workers in Estevan, Sask. Boundary’s first unit was brought on line in 1960 and generated 62 […] Read more
Liberals throw cold water on early passage of wheat board bill
The Conservative government’s proposed legislation to change Canadian Wheat Board election rules has almost no hope of passing before fall CWB elections, says Liberal critic Wayne Easter.”I simply don’t see a way this bill will be through Parliament by fall the way it is written,” he said May 28. “We are going to need some […] Read more
Ag commodities safe from recent ‘flash crash’
Did the “flash crash” of May 6 scare the bejeebers out of you?It certainly rattled the equity markets and has seen the head of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which is the owner of the main agricultural futures and options contracts in North America, dragged before inquisitors in Washington to provide answers about what happened.The answer […] Read more
Stop the rain is June refrain
By this time of year, farmers in southern Saskatchewan are usually near the end of seeding and looking forward to June sunshine to help their crops grow.But this year, they are watching the rain fall and fall, and fall some more.The Avonlea area south of Regina, for example, received more than 50 millimetres of rain […] Read more
Ideal weather sends corn acres up
CHICAGO, Ill. (Reuters) – Good planting weather in the U.S. Midwest should allow farmers to seed more corn acreage at the expense of soybeans, according to a forecast by Doane Advisory Services.The company said the move would boost U.S. corn production and add to the growing stockpile.The beneficial weather is expected to improve crop conditions […] Read more
Alfalfa seed growers worry about GM pollen flow
Alfalfa, bees, pollen and harvesting are rarely talked about in the U.S. Supreme Court.That changed in late April when the court heard oral arguments in the case of Monsanto Co. versus Geertson Seed Farms.The issue is technically a narrow legal matter: was a lower court right to grant an injunction on growing genetically modified Roundup […] Read more
Cattail farming could help save troubled lake
Richard Grosshans thinks he may have discovered a remedy for the declining health of Lake Winnipeg: harvesting cattails from the mouth of the Red River.Grosshans, who’s working on his PhD in biosystems engineering at the University of Manitoba, said it’s a simple idea.Too much phosphorus is flowing into the lake, and cattails have a tremendous […] Read more
Triffid case raises questions about system
In Canada, new GM crops must receive regulatory approval from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to confirm that they can safely be used for food and animal feed production and pose no risk to the environment.Herbicide tolerant crops must receive additional approvals from the Pest Management Regulatory Agency before they can be sprayed.Crop developers must […] Read more
