The recent decision to join UPOV ’91, the international agreement on plant breeders’ rights, was part of Bill C-18, “The Agricultural Growth Act.” Back in the day, it would have been called something like “An Act Regarding the Application of Plant Breeders’ Rights in Canada.” The previous Bill C-18 would have been “An Act to
Editorial: The farm organizations ‘that matter’
Editorial: Time to quit fighting COOL
Maybe we missed it, but somehow we expected there would be more of a buzz when McDonald’s announced that it had chosen Canada for its first-ever project to source sustainable beef. We saw no industry or government releases welcoming the announcement, which seems a bit odd. After all, McDonald’s is North America’s largest beef buyer.
Editorial: Have an omelette — cooked in butter
Many farmers bristle at the name Michael Pollan, the author of Omnivore’s Dilemma, and Cooked, two books which are not friendly to what he would call “big agriculture.” But leaving disagreements on issues such as organic food and GMOs aside, farmers might have to give Pollan credit for his dictum on eating properly: “Eat food.
Editorial: Cupcakes, and mac and cheese
Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz’s announcement machine seems to be at full speed recently — as of Monday there had been 21 so far this year. Several have been for projects where government support is entirely appropriate — research into pulses, soybeans, sustainable beef production and others. On the other hand it should be noted that
Soybeans — it might be OK to go easy on the inoculant
MPGA tests also show little or no benefit in using fungicides
Plant your soybeans on wheat or corn stubble and aim for 140,000 to 150,000 plants per acre. Those were two of the recommendations from research results delivered by Manitoba Pulse Growers production specialist Kristen Podolsky to a meeting of the Brokenhead River Agricultural Conference here last week. Podolsky also said you might not need to
Editorial: Will Wheat Commission’s PDQ project have any teeth?
Also, A job for the senators: Answering the unanswered questions of UPOV '91
If you didn’t read Phil Franz-Warkentin’s article on calculating basis on page 11 last week and don’t still have a copy, you can find it by going to our website and searching for “muddied.” That word appropriately describes the voodoo combination of futures and exchange rates that Prairie grain companies use to calculate their published
Doggerel 2015
An Editorial Director's opine, the past year in rhyme
As you may know, in each year’s first edition We take stock of the past one, and in line with tradition Using proven techniques such as analyzing innards of turkey Tell you what to expect in the future, so it isn’t so murky Expecting another crop like 2013’s might be a little unreasonable But it
Editorial: Spreading peace and prosperity
Selecting the “Our history” selection featured on this page each issue involves a visit to the library of old issues bound into volumes by crop year — August 1 to July 31. No matter the year, each issue is a reminder of two things — how much things have changed, and how much they have
Editorial: The cure for high grain prices is…
When you get right down to it, covering grain markets is kind of like sports reporting. Depending on your perspective, the outcome at the end of the day is either win, lose or tie. There’s only so many ways to describe that, just as there are only so many ways to describe why the market
Editorial: Wheat prices – a great big mess
Critics of the Canadian Wheat Board used to routinely point to published price quotes for U.S. Dark Northern Spring (DNS) wheat from the Pacific Northwest (PNW) and assume that was a benchmark price for all wheat sold in the world. If the board got less, it must have screwed up, said the critics. In fact
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
