In North America, the turkey is seen as a symbol of prosperity. Canadians eat it usually during Thanksgiving and Christmas. But over the past year there has been a change to eating habits. Canadians ate more turkey than usual, and not just during the obvious seasons. Comparing this year to last, domestic consumption of turkey […] Read more
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New eating habits boost turkey
Competition fierce for rail cars
Grain shippers are competing hard for rail cars as the busy fall shipping season heats up. Prairie farmers delivered 4.9 million tonnes of the major grains, oilseeds and pulse crops to primary elevators in the first eight weeks of the crop year ending Sept. 24. That’s up from 4.2 million tonnes a year ago. Export […] Read more
APAS defends delivery inspection
The federal government and Parliament should reject a consultant’s suggestion that inspection and weighing of grain being delivered to transfer or terminal elevators be made optional, said the president of Saskatchewan’s largest farm organization. Ken McBride, president of the Agricultural Producers’ Association of Saskatchewan, told the House of Commons agriculture committee last week that the […] Read more
KVD must loosen, say seed officials
Western Canadian farmers could reap hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits from new wheat varieties if the rules governing kernel visual distinguishability were less strict, says a senior official from the Canadian seed trade. Jeff Reid, general manager of SeCan Association and second vice-president of the Canadian Seed Trade Association, said the seed industry […] Read more
CFIA joins war against weeds
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has joined the national war effort against invasive weed species It has been given a $50 million budget and orders to eliminate pests that destroy landscapes. “CFIA has not been in the weed business up to now. It was mostly plants and insects,” said Barb Njie of CFIA’s plant health […] Read more
Short line likes ass’t commissioners
Politicians studying proposals to change the way the Canadian Grain Commission works heard a strong argument last week to ignore a proposal to get rid of regional assistant commissioners. Conrad Johnson, a grain producer from the Climax, Sask., area and chair of the Great Western Railway short line, told MPs Oct. 5 that the commission […] Read more
Oilfield weed control tightens
Thistles and tangled foxtail are often associated with oilfield sites but increasing scrutiny of the industry is forcing better weed control. Contractor Herb Plain works on weed control for mid-sized oil and gas companies. His firm sprays about 10,000 wells, 150 compressor sites and 5,150 kilometres of rights of way each year. He said it […] Read more
Group questions support for ethanol expansion
Saskatchewan’s ethanol industry might have to take root and grow in a chilly climate, says a provincial agriculture think-tank. “We find that some of the big grain companies are defensive about transformational change,” said Saskatchewan Agrivision Corp. executive director Al Scholz. “They are heavily invested in the status quo. Change isn’t easy.” And that status […] Read more
Gardeners unwitting culprits
That pretty daisy bought at the local garden centre may turn out to be a noxious weed. More than half of Canada’s serious weeds started out in gardens, where the seeds escaped and new plant colonies thrived out of control. “The ornamental industry has often been blamed since we import a lot of plants and […] Read more
Northern B.C. ranches face feed, water shortage
Wells have gone dry, dugouts have no water and little grass grew on pastures this year in northern British Columbia after the third dry year in a row. “We’re getting into a pretty scary situation,” said Julie Robinson, forage technician with the Peace River Forage Association of British Columbia. Many farmers were forced to pull […] Read more
