Pigs will eat what’s put in front of them — but digesting it is another question. In particular, according to one research scientist from the South China Agricultural University, nitrogen and phosphorus can pass through the pig undigested, causing downstream environmental challenges. Lead author of the study Xianwei Zhang, published recently in the online journal
Just passing through
Pigs that better digest their nutrients could reduce pork industry’s carbon footprint
Canada clears Bayer’s Monsanto play, with conditions
Canada’s Competition Bureau says it’s “actively reviewing” BASF’s suitability as a buyer of the crop seed and chemical assets Bayer has to sell to get the bureau’s blessing to buy Monsanto. The Competition Bureau said Wednesday it has an agreement with Bayer to deal with “concerns that the proposed transaction would have significantly harmed competition
CN Rail ordered 1,000 hopper cars
The new cars will hold more grain and replace older cars
CN Rail has ordered 1,000 new-generation high-cube grain hopper cars over the next two years to rejuvenate the aging equipment needed to serve increasing annual crop yields. “This substantial investment in higher-capacity payload hopper cars, with up to 10 per cent more capacity than the older generation, demonstrates our commitment to safely, efficiently and reliably
Input Capital to appeal streaming contract ruling
A “virtual” grain firm whose canola contracts with a Prairie farmer were set aside as “unconscionable” in a recent court ruling plans to challenge parts of that decision on appeal. Regina-based Input Capital Corp. said Monday it has filed a notice of appeal with the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal over a May 17 ruling by
Deal in principle announced for Churchill railway, port
The federal government has announced an “agreement in principle” which will see a new partnership fix up northern Manitoba’s washed-out Hudson Bay Railway and take over the mothballed Port of Churchill. Details of the agreement were slim at best in the government’s announcement Wednesday, except to say the buying group slated to take over the
Strikes called off as unions, CP reach tentative deals
Labour peace arrives Thursday morning at Canadian Pacific Railway, as the company and the unions for its conductors, engineers and signal maintainers have reached tentative deals. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Council No. 11, which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, announced a tentative three-year deal with Calgary-based CP Tuesday evening. The
The “NEW” Don 1500 combine, fully computerized
Our History: June 1988
This Don 1500 combine from Belarus advertised in our June 2, 1988 issue was available at the introductory price of $89,000. In other Soviet Union-related news, we reported on a USDA estimate that it would reduce its grain imports by 6.5 million tonnes to 26 million tonnes. Soviet grain imports had been as high as
Genetic road map
Chinese researchers have just added significantly to what we know about the wheat genome
Few crops are more important and more genetically complex than bread wheat. It feeds more than a third of the human population and is adaptable to a wide range of climates. It’s also a complex ‘hexaploid’ that contains three subgenomes (dubbed A, B and D) from parent plants, making its genetic package larger, more complex
CP employees to walk the line Tuesday night
Barring any last-minute deals, conductors, engineers and signal maintainers at Canadian Pacific Railway plan to be on strike as of 9 p.m. CT Tuesday. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, both announced Saturday
CP employees reject company’s ‘final’ offers
Conductors, engineers and signal maintainers at Canadian Pacific Railway are again within striking distance of striking. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), which represents about 360 CP signal maintenance staff, confirmed Friday their members have voted to reject what CP described