Aprivate member’s bill seeking legislation to assess “the potent ial harm to (Canadian) export markets” from new genetically modified (GM) crops, faces a lot of hurdles. The House of Commons was to vote this week on whether to extend the agriculture committee’s hearings on NDP MP Alex Atamanenko’s private member’s bill. Extensions are normally rubber
Bill To Assess Market Impact Of GM Crops In Doubt
Man. to rebate hail premiums on drowned-out acres
A group of farmers will get half their Manitoba Agricultural Services Corp. (MASC) hail insurance premium refunded on acres enrolled in the Canada-Manitoba Excess Moisture Assistance Program (CMEMAP). “Early in October our (MASC) board agreed we could give back half of the premium for those drowned-out acres,” Craig Thomson, MASC’s vice-president of insurance operations, said
Seed Ban Has Silver Lining
China’s partial ban on canola seed imports from Canada last year was a boon to value-added exports of oil and meal to that country. While exports of canola seed to China fell in 2009 after it declared it would no longer accept Canadian canola unless it was certified free of the fungal disease blackleg, exports
NFU Campaigns To Block “Comprehensive” EU Trade Deal
Ayear ago Steve Verheul, Canada’s chief negotiator on the Canada – European Union (EU) Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), lamented such an important deal should be attracting more public interest. The talks now have the National Farmers Union’s (NFU) full attention; based on a secret draft text obtained in July, the organization says an
Farmers Welcome Canola Crush Expansion
Bunge’s plan to more than double the capacity of its canola-crushing plant at Altona to 2,500 tonnes a day is good news for farmers, but it also means they’ll have to grow more canola. “We’re always glad to see investment in the canola crush because it creates demand and more demand must mean they are
Dow AgroSciences Touts Profit Potential Of Nexera Hybrids
Nexera canola varieties are a good deal for farmers and will only get better, according to Dow AgroSciences. Nexera canola is known for its highly stable oil, which has a long shelf life and therefore doesn’t have to be hydrogenated, a process which creates trans fats. But the knock has always been that Nexera varieties
Nexera Deliveries Current At Dreyfus Plant
Deliveries of Nexera canola to the new Louis Dreyfus crushing plant in Yorkton, Sask., are back on track, according to Mark Woloshyn, Dow AgroSciences’ Nexera canola brand leader. Last fall and earlier this year, the plant wouldn’t take scheduled del iveries from a number of farmers. The culprit was a combination of startup problems exacerbated
Soybeans Fighting Canola To Get Markets Back
Soybeans are fighting back. Soybean oil is still the most consumed vegetable oil in North America, but it’s been losing ground to canola, which is regarded as the healthiest vegetable oil because it contains just seven per cent saturated fat. Part of canola’s gains have resulted from the development of high-stability, omega-9 oil. It has
More Pros And Cons Heard On Bill C-474
Farmers welcome new crop varieties, but they also want regulations to ensure those crops don’t ruin markets, Paul Gregory told the House of Commons’ agriculture committee during a hearing on Bill C-474 broadcast live on the Internet Oct. 5. “I talk to farmers every day,” said Gregory, president of Interlake Forage Seeds Inc., near Fisher
Blending Farmer Innovation With Science
A60-bushel-per-acre crop of wheat would make any farmer proud, but how about one that was grown without pesticides or non-organic fertilizer? That’s how organic wheat yielded last year on a 1.5-acre field plot at the University of Manitoba’s Ian N. Morrison Research Farm at Carman. The average wheat yield in the R. M. of Dufferin,