No one would look at the ongoing struggle to move grain to port position this winter as a positive thing. It’s been a long and exhausting grind for everyone involved from the farmer through to the railways. Challenging weather met understaffed and underequipped railways and the result was poor service, scant grain movement and expensive
Editorial: A silver lining
Editorial: Farmland goes ‘loonie’
Farm Credit Canada’s most recent survey of farmland value in Canada landed this week, with a gentle thud. Thud because it showed surprisingly durable gains in farmland values, despite the lower crop values of the past several years, which economic theory at least initially suggests should not be the case. J.P. Gervais, FCC’s chief agricultural
Editorial: Scorecard needed
As the Winnipeg Jets mount what promises to be an exciting playoff run, casual hockey fans find themselves at a disadvantage. No doubt more than a few tuned in to the first couple of games last week and were surprised to find a member of the famed Stastny clan had joined the ranks of the
Soybeans raise tillage issues
As the low-residue crop creeps into new areas, new techniques are needed
Agriculture researcher Yvonne Lawley doesn’t want Manitoba farmers to rethink soybeans — she wants them to consider techniques to incorporate them into their production system more safely. The University of Manitoba professor says the crop’s earned a reputation as a soil buster, and at times that’s warranted. But they also bring a lot to the
Editorial: Future risks
Manitoba’s agriculture community is welcoming news it will be getting a few more exemptions from the incoming provincial carbon tax. The Pallister government this week announced fuels used to heat and cool livestock buildings and greenhouses and to dry grain would get a pass on the tax. The sector successfully argued from the outset it
Editorial: Go ask ALUS
It’s long been a dream of Manitoba farmers for an ecological goods and services program that would pay them for providing environmental benefits for the good of society at large. The concept was first proposed by former KAP president Ian Wishart, now provincial minister of education and training, under the moniker ALUS or Alternative Land
Editorial: Long-term fix needed
Canada’s grain handling and transportation system has descended into one of its periodic episodes of chaos and uncertainty. A big crop and some cold weather have met railways cut to the bone in search of profit, observers say, leading to the predictable outcome of grain movement grinding to a near halt. The last time was
Editorial: Alone again, naturally
For a brief and shining moment, Canadian agriculture truly was “this year’s model,” to quote singer-songwriter Elvis Costello. Just a year ago, the sector was the belle of the ball during the federal government’s annual budget, having for the first time in living memory, captured the imaginations of the nation’s policy-makers. At that point the
Editorial: Burying the hatchet
There’s a long-running list of issues that, over the years, have been sure to spur fast and furious debate between farmers. It’s such a well-worn trope that there’s an old joke that’s been circulating for many years that goes like this: [Insert agriculture policy-maker’s name] was once asked how you could get anything done when
Editorial: The ‘free’ market
Over the years a lot of ink has been spilled about the “indefensible” supply-managed system in Canada, to quote just one recent article from the Globe & Mail newspaper. There’s a certain similarity to the arguments against the status quo. Some say the system is nothing but a price-fixing cartel or closed-shop union. Others liken
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
