Prepare to sell new crop canola soon and more than you might normally, said Oil World’s Thomas Mielke at Manitoba Ag Days in Brandon on Jan. 17. Manitoba Co-operator reporter Allan Dawson hears the reason why. Related: Canola prices seen rising on high prices
VIDEO: Get ready to sell your new crop canola
Western grain shipping relatively smooth so far
Although concerns have been raised about CP Rail’s performance, a big crop and cold weather haven’t derailed grain exports
Western Canadian grain has been moving fairly well this crop year despite a 76-million-tonne crop and bitterly cold weather, which in 2013-14 was blamed for a huge and expensive grain-shipping backlog. “All things considered things are going pretty good,” Mark Hemmes, president of Quorum Corporation, the firm hired by the federal government to monitor Western
Climate change needs ‘made in Manitoba solution: Eichler
Province discusses flooding at Ag Days
The Manitoba government is still working on its climate change plan, agriculture minister Ralph Eichler and Premier Brian Pallister told reporters during separate scrums at Ag Days, Jan. 17. Before Christmas Eichler said the plan would be revealed early this year. “We only have one chance to do this,” Eichler said. “That is why a
Manitoba government to consult with KAP to make its checkoff more efficient
The current system is often frustrating to farmers and farm product buyers and costly to KAP
The Manitoba government is going to change the Keystone Agricultural Producers’ (KAP) refundable funding checkoff, Agriculture Minister Ralph Eichler announced at Ag Days Jan. 17. “The current funding structure creates needless and excessive administration costs for farmers and KAP and purchasers of agricultural products,” Eichler said. “A review of the system is something that the
Wheat hybrids possible but are benefits big enough?
Some wonder if the money would be better spent on open-pollinated lines while finding better ways seed companies can get financial returns
It seems commercializing hybrid wheat has been just over the horizon for years, but it’s now on the market in Europe and Marcus Weidler, head of Seeds Canada, for Bayer CropScience, says the company is developing hybrid wheat for Canada. “Hybrid wheat in Europe is a commercial reality,” Weidler said in a Dec. 15 interview.
Westman group exploring feasibility of soybean-crushing plant
Westman Opportunities Leadership Group chair Ray Redfern says with soybean production expanding and perhaps hog production too, a plant in western Manitoba could make sense
A group of community leaders is studying the feasibility of building a 5,000-tonne-per-day soybean-crushing plant in western Manitoba. The newly created Westman Opportunities Leadership Group (WOLG) is a volunteer group whose membership includes business, farm and civic leaders from the region. “Most of the (soybean) growth from here on in will certainly be in Westman,”
Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation refreshes website
There have also been some staff promotions to fill vacancies created by retirements
The Manitoba Agricultural Services Corporation (MASC) has given its website a fresh look and promoted some veteran employees to replace retiring colleagues. The agency, which administers crop insurance and provincially backed farm lending in Manitoba, updated its website in mid-December. “We wanted to make it mobile friendly and easier for farmers to find information,” David
WCWGA wants reduced Canadian Grain Commission fees, refund
Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay will discuss CGC fees with the new commissioners and the commission will consult the grain sector on the issue this winter
The Western Canadian Wheat Growers wants to see a cut to Canadian Grain Commission (CGC) fees and the full and immediate refund to farmers of millions of dollars in surplus CGC earnings. That call, contained in a press release issued by the group Jan. 3, seemed unlikely as of press time. “With approximately $100 million
Public or private? Both are needed, say wheat breeders
Canada’s wheat breeding remains almost all public, while other jurisdictions have gone all private or to a mixed model
[Updated: Jan. 9, 2016]: Making wheat a more competitive crop requires public and private breeder co-operation — and getting a return on investment from farmers buying seed. That was the consensus among panellists discussing wheat breeding at the 3rd Canadian Wheat Symposium here Nov. 23. “My observation would be that ultimately farmers are going to
Wheat acreage decline connected to demographics, economics
Making wheat more productive won’t likely boost plantings, but it will help keep the crop in farmers’ rotations, says the WGRF’s Garth Patterson
As wheat plantings decline in Western Canada and elsewhere, some say the fix is transferring the innovation in crops such as canola, soybeans and corn. But there are other factors at play, says Garth Patterson, executive director of the Western Grains Research Foundation. “The markets aren’t treating wheat as favourably as some of the other