Our history: February 1972

As far as we can tell, this “fits in your trunk” snowmobile advertised in our Feb. 3, 1972 issue did not catch on, but stories over the next few weeks remind us that some issues never go away. On the U.S.-Canadian hog dispute front, Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau had announced a deficiency payment of[...]

Our History: Canola was a ‘calculated’ risk

It was about three dozen years ago that my friends and colleagues at the then Rapeseed Association of Canada invited me over to discuss the specifications and definition for a new crop. When I arrived, Al Earl, the executive director of the association told me that the board had decided to name the new double-zero-type[...]


Our history: February 1929

Hemp is not a new crop in Manitoba. The February, 1929 issue of The Scoop Shovel, which later became the Manitoba Co-operator, featured an advertisement for rope made from Manitoba-grown hemp by the Manitoba Cordage Co. in Portage. Another local product advertised was Kirchner’s seeder plow, which “plows, sows and covers the seed,” with claimed[...]

Anderson barn, RM of Elton

The Anderson barn is a rare and superbly preserved example of a classic southern Ontario-style bank barn, scores of which were constructed across southwestern Manitoba during the late 19th century by settlers from Ontario. Telltale design features include tall, rectangular massing with a steep gable roof; post-and-beam framing; vertical board-and-batten siding; diamond-shaped loft windows; fieldstone[...]