(Photo courtesy General Mills via Flickr)

Cheerios to remove ‘gluten-free’ claim

The maker of Cheerios cereal is pulling a controversial “gluten-free” claim from the product’s Canadian packaging starting in 2018, over what it says is a lack of a “consistent” testing protocol for oat products. General Mills announced last week it will remove the “gluten-free” claim from Cheerios sold in Canada starting in January, though it

A thatch layer builds from the declining clover as the season progresses. 
The thatch decomposes and nitrogen becomes available for corn nutrition.

Night of the living mulch

It’s more fairy tale than horror story, according to researchers 
studying the technique

Living mulch may be a way to benefit both soil and the bottom line. The technique uses a peren­nial crop sown between the rows of an annual crop and University of Georgia researchers are studying how to make this old technique work even better. They’re studying the use of white clover between the rows of



(Photo courtesy CN)

Grain handle helps lift CN quarterly revenue

An increase in Canadian grain traffic helped support Canadian National Railway’s third-quarter revenues, though the costs of increased traffic ate at its bottom line. Montreal-based CN on Tuesday reported net income of $958 million on total revenues of $3.221 billion for the quarter ending Sept. 30, down from $972 million on $3.014 billion in the


CN improves rail car turnaround times

CN improves rail car turnaround times

Our History: October 1987

In this ad in our Oct. 29, 1987 issue, CN showed how it had improved its rail car turnaround times from 17.8 days in 1986-87 to as low as 16.0 days that month. The overall average car cycle time for all railways is 16.6 days so far this crop year. In contrast to today’s mantra



James Hargrave (second from right) in September 2016 with provincial Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier, Medicine Hat MLA Bob Wanner and Environment Minister Shannon Phillips. (AlbertaGrazingLease.ca)

Communities rally around producers in wildfires’ wake

Ranchers, farmers and rural residents who suffered losses, injuries and more in recent wildfires in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan are seeing support from neighbours and beyond. Alongside a number of online campaigns launched in support of affected farmers and families, the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association on Monday launched a wildfire relief fund to help

(Xplornet screengrab via YouTube)

Xplornet to buy NetSet

A rural broadband provider serving over 500 Manitoba municipalities and communities is set to be absorbed into one of Canada’s biggest rural operators. Xplornet Communications announced Monday it has signed a deal to buy the internet access business of Brandon-based NetSet Communications. Financial terms of the deal for the privately-held Manitoba company weren’t disclosed, except


New research may eventually see plants created that can shake off insect damage on their own.

Some plants rise to challenge of cutting

Research findings could increase productivity and lower pesticide use eventually

How would you like a canola plant that just got tougher as flea beetles tried to eat it? Eventually that may become reality if new research from the University of Illinois pans out over time. Researchers there have been studying a group of plants known as “overcompensators,” which react to being clipped by increasing their

Tax return storage at the Canada Revenue Agency. (Canada.ca)

Ottawa scraps plans for new limits on capital gains

The federal finance ministry has backed away from proposed plans for new limits on capital gains exemptions, over concerns of “unintended consequences” for businesses such as farms. Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Thursday announced the federal government “will not be moving forward with measures that would limit access to the LCGE (lifetime capital gains exemption),”