PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man. – Lyle McDonald isn’t old enough to know what you’re talking about when you mention the Crow Benefit. But he knows what you’re talking about when you ask him about the sudden leap in elevator deductions in this area in late 1995, when the Crow was killed. “Oh, that, the freight […] Read more
News
Beefing up operations – Special Report (story 5)
Farmers urged to forge stronger food chain link
The agricultural community has not done a good job of understanding and capitalizing on the steps food takes to get from the field to the plate, says a research associate with the George Morris Centre. Martin Gooch presented a workshop Nov. 16 in Saskatoon on value chains to help producers improve their bottom lines through […] Read more
Voter turnout key, say CWB hopefuls
As many as 46,000 votes were supposedly up for grabs when the Canadian Wheat Board director election campaign got underway last month. But the candidates vying for those votes say the number of votes actually in play is nowhere near that. “It seem like 90 percent of the people you talk to are very polarized […] Read more
Expand or perish? – Special Report (story 6)
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE, Man., – Terry Simpson disregarded his wife’s advice to back away from farming after the Crow Benefit ended. He swallowed the government’s bitter pill and kept farming: growing grain, running a cow-calf operation and operating a hog feeding barn. Then, the pig price crash hammered him in 1998 and the BSE crisis […] Read more
New Ventures
New peat plant for Manitoba Premier Horticulture Ltd. is building a $14.6 million peat moss packaging plant in Richer, Man. The Manitoba government has assisted the project with a $3 million loan. The Richer plant will replace Premier’s packaging plant in Giroux, which was destroyed by fire in 2005, said a government News release news. […] Read more
Few want back on voters list
Only about 10 percent of the people dropped off the Canadian Wheat Board election voters list last month have obtained a ballot. In mid-October, the government slashed about 16,500 names off the list, representing producers who hadn’t made deliveries to the CWB in 2005-06 or 2006-07. Producers dropped from the list could obtain a ballot […] Read more
Specialization key to farm’s survival – Special Report (story 7)
OAKVILLE, Man. – When he was 29 years old in 1995, Darcy Miller saw the Crow Benefit end and knew something big had to change on his family’s farm. It was a small grain and pedigreed seed operation in the middle of the continent and exporting wheat and barley didn’t look lucrative anymore as transportation […] Read more
Strahl cleared of election wrongs
There’s no evidence to indicate Canadian Wheat Board minister Chuck Strahl has broken the rules governing third party campaigning or spending in the CWB director elections, says the election co-ordinator. Four director candidates complained last week that the minister has been intervening in the election in favour of candidates who support the open market, and […] Read more
Wheat board asks Strahl to remove gag order
The Canadian Wheat Board is again asking the federal government to remove its gag. It’s looking at whether Ottawa has the right to order it to stay out of the debate on the future of single desk selling. “We’re looking at all the legal ramifications of the order,” said CWB chair Ken Ritter, adding the […] Read more
Farm expansion tactic faced rising input costs – Special Report (story 8)
YORKTON, Sask. – Garry Liebrecht faces the post-Crow reality every time he ships grain to the local elevator. Recently his malt barley brought him an initial payment of $1.08 per bushel after deductions, his winter wheat $1.18 and his barley 28 cents. “That’s a joke,” he noted recently while in Yorkton, close to the centre […] Read more
