Amy Nikkel and her family took up farming, food-processing and grain milling “kind of all together,” she said. The first year, they grew a crop of gluten-free organic oats, cleaned them and tested products. The next year a flood kept them from planting oats on their Interlake farm. The third year, they grew another crop,
The good, bad and ugly of value-added
Farmer and miller Amy Nikkel shares considerations for on-farm food processing
Weird pest phenomena a boon for farmers
They might sound creepy, but aphid ‘mummies’ and ‘summit disease’ are signs friendly fungi, insects are at hand
For once, it’s not a bad thing if the mummy returns – unless you’re an aphid. In 2022, pea aphids plagued many Manitoba farmers, said John Gavloski, entomologist with Manitoba Agriculture. Aphids on soybeans also hit economic levels, particularly in the central, east and Interlake regions. “Some people were caught in a dilemma,” Gavloski told
Rural electric vehicles: brilliant or balderdash?
Off the grid: A meme sends a Co-operator reporter on a quest to find the ‘T’ on EVs – and to get behind the wheel
I’ve come across multiple iterations of this Facebook meme. Several cars sit half-buried as a snowstorm rages around them. The caption reads something like, “Can you imagine an electric vehicle stuck here for hours, the battery dying, the saps inside freezing their patooties off? Pry my gas-powered vehicle from my cold, dead hands!” For everyone
Pot producer Delta 9 announces cutback amid industry-wide struggle
The Cannabis Council of Canada is asking the federal government to ease the tax burden on producers
Manitoba cannabis giant Delta 9’s cost-cutting measures are symptomatic of financial struggles across the industry. The Winnipeg-based company recently announced it would lay off approximately 40 staff and reduce its cultivation capacity by about 40 per cent. The board and executive have also taken a pay cut, Delta 9 said in a Jan. 9 news release. “The cost savings
Passing It On: Young farmers reflect on succession journeys
Unique family stories reflect the value of communication, empathy, good relationships and good counsel
Advisors, clear values and family history were important to successful farm transitions for two Canadian farm families. Jan. 10 was Farm Transition Appreciation Day, a day in which groups such as Farm Management Canada, Farm Credit Canada and Glacier FarmMedia (the Co-operator’s parent company) encourage farmers to start the process of planning their farm’s transition
Learning to love the musical fruit
FOOD | In this economy, beans had everything to offer except taste – or so I thought
Who among us, as a child, wasn’t forced to eat food they didn’t like? One of my aunts, young and newly married into the family, tried to force five-year-old me to eat my breakfast cereal – with milk. Big mistake! Fits were thrown. When my parents got home, they were told in no uncertain terms
Fertilizer efficiency may be margin-saver
Crop prices have softened but there’s yet to be a corresponding drop in fertilizer prices
Extra fertilizer efficiency could have a big impact on profitability, particularly if crop prices soften. “We need to make fertilizer efficiency work to our advantage,” said Darren Bond, a Manitoba Agriculture farm management specialist who spoke during a Jan. 4 grain information day in Clandeboye. “When fertilizer prices started to spike up, because the grain prices outran them,
Year in review: hearing hard truths about First Nations farmers
Digging into the history of oppression and neglect of Indigenous farmers on the Prairies a heartbreaking but necessary endeavour
“They said agriculture is going to be your new buffalo. That’s how you’re going to feed yourselves,” Robert Maytwayashing told me. By ‘they’ he meant the Canadian government, many years ago. Maytwayashing is a former cattle farmer from Lake Manitoba First Nation, and he’s worked in multiple advocacy, leadership and cultural training roles. Farming went
Time for a holistic approach to sustainability?
The term needs to include the human element as well as the environmental and economic
Building a sustainable agriculture strategy is an opportunity to include mental health in the conversation, says the executive director of the Do More Agriculture Foundation. “Mental health affects everything… or it can be affected by so many things,” said Megz Reynolds. The foundation is a charity that focuses on mental health in the agriculture industry.
Leaders ‘encouraged’ by collaborative approach to sustainability strategy
Most interests are represented around the table, but one group fears the strategy will saddle farmers with costs, rules
Ag leaders say they’re pleased to see the federal government strike a collaborative tone as it begins consultations over its Sustainable Agriculture Strategy, but not all are so optimistic. Federal agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has signaled she’s not approaching the process with “preconceived notions,” said Stuart Oke, chair of the National Farmers Union’s climate committee.
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
