Rosann Wowchuk remained agriculture minister and deputy premier following last week’s reshuffling of the Manitoba cabinet. Also important to agriculture and rural Manitoba is the conservation department, which will now be headed by Dauphin-Roblin MLA Stan Struthers, who replaces Steve Ashton. Ashton will head the newly created water stewardship department, which makes him responsible for […] Read more
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Manitoba cabinet shuffled
Food export lobby says tariff cuts necessary
A food industry export lobby has warned MPs not to be seduced by a supply management sector proposal that world trade can be expanded by increasing regulated trade rather than lowering tariffs. In late October, a coalition of poultry groups told the House of Commons agriculture committee that the focus of World Trade Organization talks […] Read more
Coming Events
Nov. 12-15: Saskatoon Fall Fair, Prairieland Park, Saskatoon, 306-931-7149 Nov. 13-14: Alberta Horticultural Congress and Prairie West Horticultural Show, Mayfield Inn and Suites, Edmonton (Shirley Alton, 877-998-2782 or 780-998-7586) Nov. 14-15: Roblin and district trade show, community centre, Roblin, Man. (Dale Scott, 204-937-2156) Nov. 14-16: Alberta Sheep Symposium, Red Deer Lodge, Red Deer (Gordon Fulton, […] Read more
Vanclief may axe cull cattle funding
Federal agriculture minister Lyle Vanclief appears poised to rescind an offer to co-fund with provinces a $200 million cull cattle program that would have paid producers $159 per head for each slaughtered older animal. On Nov. 7, he said objections from the industry and provinces meant a program he had expected to announce last week […] Read more
Organic rules still elusive
Earlier this summer, a senior Canadian trade official issued a dire warning to organic growers, processors and certifiers. If they didn’t ratify a national standard before year’s end, they would be on the outside looking in when Europe shuts its doors on countries that haven’t negotiated an equivalency agreement, said Roxan Hoshangi, agricultural affairs officer […] Read more
Ont. group has different vision for dairy sector
In a world of trade liberalization agreements, Canada’s tariff-protected dairy industry can only decline, says the leader of a small group of Ontario dairy farmers trying to operate an export business outside the controlled system. Chris Birch is president of the 25-member, non-quota Georgian Bay Milk Co. Ltd., which sells raw milk and dairy product […] Read more
Growing crops no longer enough – WP Special Report (story 1)
Qu’Appelle, Sask. – Harvest was a distant memory for most southeastern Saskatchewan farmers on Oct. 21. Not for Gordon Hamblin. He took advantage of the gorgeous fall day to combine the last of his crops – 15 acres of barley. Not that the Qu’Appelle, Sask., farmer was procrastinating this fall. Far from it. Hamblin’s harvest […] Read more
Canola council making trade position known
Canada’s $2.5 billion canola industry is a prime example of why a new world trade deal is needed, Canola Council of Canada president Barb Isman said last week. She told the House of Commons agriculture committee Nov. 6 the canola industry is deeply dependent on trade, but the last World Trade Organization deal in 1994 […] Read more
Monsanto ties future to biotech crops
Monsanto Canada is cutting 10 percent of its workforce as part of a company-wide reorganization. The 39 jobs eliminated at the Canadian subsidiary are part of a broader termination of seven to nine percent of the company’s global workforce, driven in a large part by slumping sales of Roundup herbicide, say industry analysts. “Roundup continues […] Read more
2003: high quality, reasonable yield
Crop quality across Western Canada is judged as high this year. The Canadian Grain Commission’s Jim Stuart said this year’s average yield is made better by the higher than average quality reported in the commission’s annual harvest survey. “Compared with last year, 2003 is a really impressive crop. But it is better in quality than […] Read more
