Red Williams dies at 93

The Saskatchewan professor spearheaded advances in livestock care

Memorial services will be held “at a later date” for renowned Prairie animal science professor, Charles “Red” Williams, who died March 26 at age 93 leaving a legacy of work in livestock care and ag extension. Williams, born in Regina and raised on farms in Saskatchewan and Alberta, served in the Second World War on



(CPR.ca)

Grain handle down, costs up in CP’s Q1

Increased traffic in potash and intermodal containers offset an eight per cent drop in grain carloads in Canadian Pacific Railway’s first quarter, against higher costs and “challenging” conditions. Calgary-based CP on Wednesday booked net income of $348 million on gross revenues of $1.662 billion for the quarter ending March 31, down from $431 million on

Ancient wheat varieties, like this spelt crop seen here in the field, have garnered plenty of consumer attention recently. The CDC has just released breeder seed for four new hulled varieties.

Go to hull

The latest releases from the Crop Development Centre at the U of S bring back something long gone from most wheat varieties

When most of us think of a wheat kernel, we think of the familiar smooth seed with an indentation on one side. But this is actually a relatively recent development, coinciding with the introduction of high-yielding bread and durum varieties that we’re all familiar with, roughly in the early 1900s. The earliest wheats were hulled,


‘Wypout’ your wild oats

‘Wypout’ your wild oats

Our History: April 1979

Uniroyal’s Wypout was available for wild oat control in April 1979 — an internet search doesn’t indicate the active ingredient. The winter in 1978-79 had been the second coldest on record along with abundant snowfall, as was evident by the stories in our April 19 issue. The report from the Provincial Flood Forecasting Committee correctly

(Dave Bedard photo)

Two unions set to strike Saturday at CP

Unions representing engineers, conductors and signal maintainers on Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) have served formal notice to strike starting Saturday. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), which represents about 3,000 CP engineers and conductors, served strike notice late Tuesday, as did System Council No. 11 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), representing over


(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Online cattle market AgriClear goes dark

Canada’s TMX Group has pulled the plug on its AgriClear online cattle exchange after almost three years of operation. TMX, which operates the Toronto-based TSX stock exchange among other services, announced on AgriClear’s lone remaining web page that the AgriClear platform and website have been decommissioned, effective Monday (April 16). “As part of the active

National Grain Week kicks off

Grain Growers of Canada organized the event, the first of its kind in Canada

Grain growers from across the country are blitzing Ottawa this week to celebrate the inaugural National Grain Week from April 17 to 19. In particular they’re promoting the ways farmers are using innovation to meet the federal government’s stated goal of increasing agri-food exports to $75 billion by 2025, event organizer Grain Growers of Canada


This unassuming vine from Australia has given soybean yields a boost, researchers say.   PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

Wild vine boosts soybean yield

Researchers were looking for resistance genes and found a yield boost too

A distant relative to soybean that’s native to Australia could soon lead to a big jump in soybean yields. The perennial vine, known as woolly glycine, or scientifically as Glycine tomentella, is a genetic resource that was part of a new study from researchers at the University of Illinois. “We saw yield increases of 3.5