TORONTO/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Fertilizer maker Agrium Inc. may have failed to clinch a deal to acquire U.S. rival CF Industries, but it continues to look to expand its North American retail business, chief executive officer Michael Wilson said. “We have a mapping of North America and we just look at where we are not and […] Read more
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Agrium targets retail expansion, joint ventures
Saskatchewan loses $11 million in Big Sky, Stomp Pork Farms
Saskatchewan residents who opposed a provincial government investment in the hog industry have another 11 million reasons to cry foul. According to court documents, Big Sky Farms Inc. and Stomp Pork Farms, the province’s two largest pork producers, owed the provincial government, government agencies and provincially owned utility companies $11 million when they sought creditor […] Read more
U.S. plan to ease wheat sales to Cuba could face opposition
A U.S. bill designed to free up agricultural trade to Cuba shouldn’t hurt Canadian wheat sales to that country. Legislation introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives in February would remove a number of regulatory restrictions on trade, financing and travel between the United States and its island neighbour. U.S. wheat groups say the bill […] Read more
Sask. farmers lend helping hand in Haiti
D’ARCY, Sask. – Ken and Denise Wallis couldn’t stay away when they heard about the earthquake that devastated Haiti earlier this year. The grain farmers from D’Arcy, Sask., arrived Jan. 24, almost two weeks after the earthquake killed more than 250,000 people and left hundreds of thousands more injured and homeless. They found collapsed buildings […] Read more
Farmers compensated for stock kills
Saskatchewan has taken a step designed to help livestock producers deal with predators. Agriculture minister Bob Bjornerud was criticized earlier this year for placing a bounty on coyotes to reduce predation leading to livestock injuries and deaths. But as that pilot program winds down at the end of March, he told delegates to the Saskatchewan […] Read more
Risk of double dip recession presents argument for pricing crop at today’s prices
Looking at crop price charts of the last three years, new crop prices are disappointing. But if you look at decade-long charts, current values look pretty good. At these prices most crops, except wheat, appear modestly profitable or should at least break even in 2010-11. That’s one reason why I think farmers should attempt some […] Read more
Processor sees demand rise for gluten-free oats
Production of gluten-free foods containing oats, oat bran and oat flour will grow as awareness of gluten intolerance increases, says the chief executive officer of Avena Foods in Regina. Maryellen Carlson said demand for pure oat products made in Canada and the United States, as well as oat ingredients produced at Avena’s pure oat processing […] Read more
Contract entices wheat growers
Soft white spring wheat growers in southern Alberta have a new way to price their grain. The new contract offered by the Canadian Wheat Board is expected to prevent farmers from abandoning the crop this spring, as some industry officials had warned might happen if prices didn’t improve. “We were at the point where there […] Read more
Prairie Jack donkey settles in New Zealand
Canada’s first export of a rare Mammoth Jack donkey to New Zealand is one way Sybil and Carl Sewell hope to build interest in a rare breed. It took the Leslieville, Alta., couple nearly a year of phone calls and e-mails to close the deal that sent the two-year-old female, Windy Ridge Black Mariah, to […] Read more
Gene controlling seed size may improve food security
LINDELL BEACH, B.C. – Would increasing the size of seed also increase the yield of a plant? This is one of the tantalizing questions scientists are trying to answer now that they have uncovered a gene responsible for controlling the size of seeds. The research was conducted by scientists from the John Innes Centre in […] Read more
