Manitoba Pool Elevators was still going strong in 1994 — this ad in our Dec. 1 issue reported member allocations of $3.47 per tonne for 1994 and $1.58 for the following year. Member equity was at $140 million.
Canamera Foods, then Canada’s largest oilseed crusher and 50 per cent owned by Manitoba and Saskatchewan Pools, was also doing well. Its chief trader told Manitoba Pool delegates that is was racking up impressive profits and expected to double operations in the next three to five years, depending on the freight rate regime.
Reflecting that anticipated demand, the issue carried a two-page special feature from Manitoba Agriculture with agronomic recommendations for the increased canola acreage expected for 1995. It warned that tight rotations could become a problem. “Experiences in other parts of the world indicate that diseases will become a greater problem. We all know how tan spot and septoria build up when growing wheat and wheat.”
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Canola trade watchful during harvest intermission
The flow of speculative money, reacting to whatever world news is available, can be expected to steer grain and oilseed futures in this stretch between Northern and Southern Hemisphere harvests, Phil Franz-Warkentin writes.
Last week’s Our History reported concerns with inadequate farm support programs in 1991, but three years later farm income was looking better, in part due to higher canola returns. There were now different concerns about farm income programs. Auditor general Denis Desautels said the federal government had spent $4.5 billion on the programs since 1991 without a clear consensus on what it was supposed to accomplish.
That issue also welcomed a new associate editor, Laura Rance.
