The Bank of Canada removed any lingering doubts last week about its commitment to fighting inflation. It delivered a jumbo rate hike of 100 basis points — or a full per cent — while facing an annualized inflation rate of more than seven per cent, according to the most recent figures from Statistics Canada. South
Editor’s Take: Going up
Editor’s Take: A return to normalcy
What a long, strange trip it’s been, to quote the old song. Back in March 2020, most of us were probably expecting a brief interruption — a few weeks at most — to our lives. Needless to say, that’s not how it played out. It’s been more than two years of cancellations, delays and shelved
Editor’s Take: Harsh lessons
I had an unexpected front-row seat to the unforgiving nature of… well, nature… this week. I was sitting in my backyard enjoying the cool of the evening and waiting for the sun to set when a songbird flew over my head. No sooner had its presence been registered by my eye, than a brownish-grey streak
Editor’s Take: Planning for the unplannable
How do you plan for — and manage — the kind of weather risk Manitoba farmers have suffered through lately? First it was years of prolonged drought, including last year’s acute blast. That crippled crop production, all but halted forage growth and raised the serious risk of some rural communities running out of drinking water.
Editor’s Take: End of an era
A very strange thing happened this week, as we put this edition of the Co-operator together. You can see it yourself, on our featured article at Farmit Manitoba. It’s the very last story that Allan Dawson will publish in these pages as a staff reporter. I say strange because most of us can’t quite imagine
Editor’s Take: That’s really not COOL
Our American cousins are like a lot of extended family. We might love them, most days. But sometimes we watch their antics, scratch our heads, and wonder what the heck they’re thinking. And there aren’t a lot of issues being pursued through their political system that make less sense than the perennial push for mandatory
Editor’s Take: Getting weather whiplash
If you’re feeling weather weary these days you’re not alone. Most of the province probably shares your feelings. It was only eight or nine months ago that we were worried the rain would never come again. Then came the winter that wouldn’t go away, where it only warmed up long enough to snow, only to
DOWN THE DRAIN: Manitoba’s wetlands a shadow of their former selves
It’ll take years to reverse the trend, but the effects will be cumulative
Manitoba farmers heading out to plant this spring can thank the likes of R.T. Riley for the fact that they have fields to work instead of swamps. Riley, best known today as one of the founders of the Great West Life Assurance company (now Canada Life), was the son of a prominent British businessman who
Phosphorus boosters and broad-spectrum antifungal found in Prairie soils
Researchers say naturally occurring microbes can make phosphorus more readily available
A group of Manitoba researchers have isolated two naturally occurring micro-organisms they say will help farmers better utilize phosphorus and fight plant diseases. The work of the scientists, from the University of Manitoba and KGS Group, has centred around two novel bacterium dubbed KGS-2 and KGS-3. Stan Lozecznik, senior environmental engineer with KGS Group, said
Editor’s Take: The weakest link
As I sit here, writing this editorial, I’m recovering from the last lingering COVID symptoms. I’m hardly alone in this. One recent study suggested that as many as 50 per cent of Canadians have had an infection now. Based on anecdotal evidence from my circle of friends and family, I’m willing to believe that number,
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
