The Manitoba Pork Council hopes its new Swine Development Corporation will help farmers navigate the waters of building new barns. Chair George Matheson says the service is about halfway ready for its launch. The pork council has allocated $60,000 for the new program, which Matheson says will be run primarily by the pork council’s general
Development corporation to assist hog barn builders
With Bill 24 passed, hog barns expansion is once again a possibility, but Manitoba Pork Council says the approval process still frequently leaves producers looking for help navigating it
Beef industry speaks to the sector’s future
Manitoba Beef Producers and Manitoba 4-H Council are making the rounds through the province with three youth-focused forums
It’s time for the next generation of beef producers to speak up. Manitoba Beef Producers, which has been engaged in its annual membership meeting circuit this fall, has handed them the microphone at a series of three emerging beef leaders’ forums, as a joint project with the Manitoba 4-H Council. Brian Lemon, MBP general manager,
Southwest boosters continue to pitch soy plant
A local development group continues to hope it can draw a global soy processor to southwestern Manitoba
The Western Opportunities Leadership Group (WOLG) says Manitoba’s explosive soybean-acre growth makes a processing plant viable. The crop has spread rapidly west and north over the last 10 years, into regions traditionally considered too cold. The potential facility drew industry, university researchers, local farmers and community leaders to Brandon University Nov. 16 for a day-long
Branding base for good hires
The Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference looked at hiring and human resources during the most recent event
Farms need a brand for hiring employees the same way they need to market for customers. That was one message that Manitoba Agriculture’s Khosi Mashinini had Nov. 20 during her presentation on human resource planning in Brandon. The farm enterprise management specialist urged producers to develop or update an HR plan, a document handling interview,
Licensing program promises domestic wash stations: Manitoba Pork
The Manitoba Pork Council wants trucks washed in Canada, and it looks like it’s going to get its wish
Empty swine trucks crossing over the border may be washed in Manitoba in 2018, a move sure to please the Manitoba Pork Council. MPC has lobbied the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to seal trucks at the border and wash them at a certified station in province. “They seem to be warming up to it,” MPC
The changing face of the farm-her
Female farmers, agriculture industry workers and others gathered for Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference
The Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference wants female farmers to start thinking about the next century-and-a-half. The 31st incarnation of the event landed in Brandon Nov. 19-21, taking on the theme, “Advancing Farm Women for the Next 150 years.” Conference chair Donna Lee Brown said the theme is a play on Canada 150, marking changes in agriculture and
Taking aim at credit options for fledgling farms
Do new farmers need better access to newcomer-friendly financing? At least one producer says yes
When it comes to farmland, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Brooke Rossnagel hopes policy-makers will understand it is in the interest of the sector as a whole to break that cycle. He wants better access to credit for new farmers, and he’s hoping that a motion with the Manitoba Beef Producers
Traceability changes to jumpstart enforcement in livestock movement reporting
Manitoba producers without a premise ID might find it hard to ship livestock once the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announces traceability changes expected next spring
The countdown is on for Manitoba beef producers to get a premise ID or risk being unable to ship cattle to feedlots. The beef industry is one of several (including sheep and poultry) facing changes by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency within the next year. The CFIA has promised tighter controls over livestock traceability and
Marketed cattle jump cited as Manitoba Beef Producers ends strong on financial year
An increase in marketed cattle let the Manitoba Beef Producers buck an expected deficit 2017, according to the first financial statements
Manitoba Beef Producers is back in black — black in, that is. A surprise swing in marketed cattle left the organization well ahead on its financials, after initially projecting a $136,100 deficit in 2017. Instead, MBP ended the year with a $214,700 surplus, according to financial documents presented during regular district meetings this fall. MBP
Import changes looming for veterinary drugs
Canadian producers have used the U.S. to access cheaper veterinary drugs, but the list of approved drugs is about to change Nov. 13
Livestock producers are still in the dark on incoming changes to the list of approved veterinary drugs they may source from the U.S. Health Canada is tightening regulations on own-use importation, a practice allowing producers to buy approved drugs in the United States and carry them into Canada. As of Nov. 13, that list of