A Minneapolis-based startup focused on non-GMO and organic grains has bought itself elevator space to source those crops out of southern Saskatchewan. Pipeline Foods on Wednesday announced it has bought small elevators at Wapella, about 130 km south of Yorkton, and at Gull Lake, about 50 km southwest of Swift Current, for an undisclosed sum.

U.S. organic grain firm buys Saskatchewan elevators

New grain type yields high in farm field test
Our History: September 1961
Our Sept. 7, 1961 issue reported on “high productivity and drought resistance” on a new “synthetic grain species” developed at the University of Manitoba. The cross between durum wheat and rye, later named triticale, had been grown on 35 acres on the farm of A.V. Arnott at Darlingford, and it was estimated it would yield

Partially hydrogenated oils on the way out
The federal government has served a year’s notice on partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) as ingredients in foods sold in Canada. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor announced Friday that PHOs will be added to Canada’s List of Contaminants and Other Adulterating Substances effective Sept. 15, 2018, giving Canadian food processors and importers “enough time to find

Alberta, feds back Lethbridge potato processing plant
The federal and Alberta governments are set to cover over $22 million in costs related to the construction of Cavendish Farms’ new potato processing plant at Lethbridge. The two levels of government on Monday announced $20 million for the City of Lethbridge for related municipal infrastructure developments, through the federal/provincial Clean Water and Wastewater Fund

Film director Cameron backing Saskatchewan organic pea plant
A major new pulse plant has set up shop southwest of Saskatoon with plans to help back development of pulse-based foods and mentor organic growers — and bringing with it a pair of unusually high-profile investors. Verdient Foods on Monday announced the opening of a pulse food processing plant at Vanscoy, Sask., with plans for

Soy strains
Adding commercial soybeans in developing countries brings unique challenges
Introducing soybeans into a developing country’s agriculture community is more complex than just putting the seeds in the ground. It also requires a major shift in thinking in relation to crop production and management, according to a University of Illinois agriculture economist. Peter Goldsmith says only with this shift in thinking will the new crop

UFA to shut down outdoor outfitter business
Alberta farmers’ co-operative UFA is set to get out of an “increasingly competitive” space in the retail sector by closing its outdoor supply chain Wholesale Sports. The co-operative, which bought what was then a seven-store chain in 2008, announced Thursday it would start inventory liquidation sales Friday at all 12 of its remaining Wholesale Sports

Prairie pork industry leader Bill Vaags, 82
UPDATED, Sept. 15 — A memorial service is planned for Sept. 19 in Winnipeg for a prominent Prairie figure in the business of promoting and securing export markets for Canadian pork. Bill Vaags, a pork producer at Dugald, Man. who led the Canadian Pork Council from 1985 to 1990 and chaired Canada Pork International from

Prograin head buys into soy processor Ceresco
CORRECTED, Sept. 15, 2017 — A major Quebec processor and exporter of identity-preserved (IP) soybeans for food markets is set to be sold to an investor group including the head of soybean firm Semences Prograin. SG Ceresco, based southwest of Montreal at St-Urbain-Premier, will be sold to a joint venture between Prograin president Alain Letourneau’s

Drought year predicts high crop insurance payouts
Our History: September 1980
Effects of the drought-stricken crop of 1980 dominated the front page of our September 11, 1980 issue. Manitoba Crop Insurance anticipated a possible payout of $100 million, its highest on record. Crops farther west had suffered less than in Manitoba, and Statistics Canada was forecasting a larger Prairie wheat crop than the previous year, but